Supervisory Board

Immaculate Owomugisha Bazare is a Ugandan lawyer and human rights advocate with over ten years’ experience challenging obstetric violence, HIV criminalisation, stigma and discrimination and all other forms violence against women and girls. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Centre for Women Justice, Uganda.

She is also a member of the International Steering Committee of the International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW) and the Board Treasurer for the International Community of Women Living with HIV Eastern Africa (ICWEA). As well as sitting on the board of other Ugandan NGOs, she is also a member of the expert working group for the global consensus building process on HIV-related stigma.

Immaculate was appointed to the Supervisory Board in October 2022.

Sarai Chisala-Tempelhoff is a Malawian human rights lawyer and legal researcher with over 15 years of experience in women’s access to justice. She has published on, conducted training on, rallied for, and researched the deficit between women’s and girls’ legal rights and their lived experiences, including founding the Gender and Justice Unit. She has worked in three countries on topics ranging from HIV, to gender-based violence, to legal empowerment.

Formerly a member of HJN’s Global Advisory Panel, Sarai was appointed to the Supervisory Board in February 2021 and in February 2025 reaffirmed her commitment to the organisation by agreeing to remain on the Board for another four-year term.

Richard Elliott is a lawyer and independent consultant working in the field of HIV, health and human rights for nearly three decades. He is the past Executive Director of the HIV Legal Network (Canada).

Richard has also worked as a civil litigator in private practice, testified before legislative committees, been an expert resource and technical advisor to UN agencies, and served on the HIV advisory body to Canada’s Minister of Health as well as the expert advisory groups to the Global Commission on HIV and the Law and the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines. He has a BA (Honours), LL.B. and LL.M. and was called to the bar of Ontario in 1997.

Richard joined the Supervisory Board and was appointed Chair in March 2022.  Since January 2026 he taken on the role of financial representative.

Alexei Lakhov has more than 15 years’ experience in HIV, hepatitis, harm reduction and drug policy. Formerly the Executive Director of EuroNPUD, where he remains a technical advisor, he is also a patient advocate for the International Liver Cancer Movement.

Previous roles include general manager of the Estonian-based harm reduction NGO coalition, Outreach and development director of the largest Russian harm reduction organisation, Humanitarian Action.

Alexei formerly represented the EECA region on the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board NGO Delegation on behalf of the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association, of which he is a Steering Committee member.

Alexei joined the Supervisory Board in January 2026, having previously served on our Global Advisory Panel.

Laurel Sprague, Ph.D. is a political scientist, researcher, and global authority on civil society movements for HIV, health, and justice, based in the United States. She is the Research Director and Blachford/Cooper Distinguished Scholar at the Williams Institute.

With over three decades of experience in the HIV field, Laurel has held research and leadership roles with prominent community-led organisations, including The Sero Project and the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+). From 2018 to 2024, she led UNAIDS’ Global Division of Community and Youth Engagement.

Formerly HIV Justice Network’s Research Fellow on HIV, Gender, and Justice (2016–17), Laurel joined the Supervisory Board in August 2024, where she served as the board’s financial representative.  

Laurel was appointed Chair of the Supervisory Board in January 2026.