I grew up in South Africa during the darkness of Apartheid, so even before graduating from the Medical School at the University of Cape Town, I had a deep empathy for the down-trodden and socially dismissed. I started managing people who were being diagnosed with HIV as it was emerging as a new disease when many clinicians elected to avoid treating HIV. This ultimately led to establishing a research practice dedicated to HIV 36 years ago. For the past 23 years I have worked in the pharmaceutical industry focused on the research and development of antiretrovirals. HIV disproportionately affects vulnerable children and adults, so ensuring broad representation clinical trials with close community engagement has been integral to trial design and site selection. My view of HIV is shaped by its immunopathology and how chronic inflammation and ageing impact the immune landscape. More recently I have been interested in the pathophysiology of stress and stigma and how this intersects with HIV immunopathology and outcomes.