Monique Nijhuis obtained her PhD in 1999 at the University of Utrecht on the investigation of the impact of antiretoviral resistance on HIV fitness. Following postdoctoral research training in the US she initiated a research line at the interface between fundamental and clinical research and became an honourable Profssor of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and an Associate Professor of Virology at the University Medical Center in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Her research interest are centred on (1) HIV reservoirs and eradication and (2) HIV drug resistance and evolution. She is heading the international multidisciplinary Spiral consortium investigating HIV cure strategies with a specific focus on sub-Saharan Africa, is a member of the IAS HIV Cure International Scientific Working Group, Associate Editor of Retrovirology and published over 150 original papers in peer reviewed journals and has guided many students, PhD students and Postdoctoral Fellows.