Robin Gorna appointed as Frontline AIDS new Executive Director

Robin Gorna brings substantial leadership experience to Frontline AIDS, having been Executive Director of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations, the International AIDS Society, and the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. She is currently Vice-Chair of the Technical Review Panel for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

Robin’s work as an AIDS activist, a writer and a leader began in the mid-1980s, when she volunteered with UK community groups, the Terrence Higgins Trust and Frontliners, the original UK network of people living with AIDS. In 2003 she set up the UK government’s global AIDS policy team at the Department for International Development (DFID), where she led significant global processes, including the G8 and UN agreements to Universal Access to HIV prevention, treatment and care and the Three Ones, guiding principles that promote universal coordination between national authorities and their partners in tackling the global HIV epidemic. She also hosted the first donor meeting for Frontline AIDS (then called the International HIV/AIDS Alliance). Robin then moved to Pretoria to lead the UK’s health and AIDS work in Southern Africa at a time of vibrant change in South Africa, which led to the scale up of HIV treatment.

Robin has also co-founded the global movements, Women4GlobalFund and SheDecides, and led the design team that created the Robert Carr Fund, which mobilises funding for regional and global civil society and community networks to improve access to HIV services.

“Robin has been a close friend of Frontline AIDS since its earliest days and we are delighted that she will now bring her substantial experience and insights to work with us in a new way,” said Professor Nana Poku, Chair of the Board. “I am confident that under Robin’s leadership, our dynamic partnership will unite and accelerate efforts to deliver a future free from AIDS for everyone, everywhere.”

“It is an honour to take on this role to support partners working on the frontline of the AIDS crisis all over the world, and to build on the remarkable impact that Frontline AIDS has had over the past three decades,” Robin Gorna said. “The human rights challenges that underpin the deep damage of HIV are now resurging, with real risks that communities will be left behind as the world shifts focus. I look forward to working with partners led by, and working with, marginalised communities around the world, and with the talented global staff team. Together we will confront the growing challenges to human rights and health by ensuring the leadership and full engagement of communities most affected by AIDS everywhere.”

Robin will join Frontline AIDS in September 2023.