Alan Whiteside (WK 69-74) is founder and Director of the Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD) at the University of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa.

The aim of HEARD is to conduct research on the socio-economic aspects of public health, currently focusing on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. HEARD also provides training, with the aim of building capacity across the public and private sectors and in civil society to make informed decisions and to create climates for constructive action on HIV/AIDS.

Alan is a Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a Visiting Professor at the School of Tropical Medicine, University of Liverpool in the UK. He is an elected Member of Governing Council of the International AIDS Society and was a Commissioner of the UN Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa.  He is also a member of Waterford KaMhlaba UWC’s Governing Council and a donor to the College.

His major recent publications include two books: AIDS: The Challenge for South Africa co-authored with Clem Sunter (2000) and AIDS in the Twenty-First Century: Disease and Globalisation co-authored with Tony Barnett (2002; 2006).