Professor Gilda Tachedjian is a NHMRC Senior Research Fellow and Heads the Life Sciences Discipline and Retroviral Biology and Antivirals Laboratory at the Burnet Institute. She is internationally recognized for her contributions to HIV reverse transcriptase, antivirals, drug resistance, HIV prevention and the vaginal microbiome. She obtained her PhD in Microbiology from Monash University and completed a CJ Martin Postdoctoral Fellowship at Columbia University and an RD Wright Fellowship at the Burnet Institute. She was awarded the Frank Fenner Award by the Australian Society for Microbiology in 2012 and Fellow of the Australasian Virology Society in 2024 in recognition of her distinguished contributions to the virology field. She was President of the Australasian Virology Society (2017-2021) and is Co-convenor of the Victorian Infection and Immunity Network (VIIN). Her current research interests include the development of novel drug class for HIV treatment, understanding the impact of the vaginal microbiota on susceptibility to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, and the study of retroviruses and restriction factors in bats.