Sema Sgaier

Sema K. Sgaier is a scientist, global health expert, and documentary photographer. Sgaier’s expertise includes molecular biology, genetics, genomics, neuroscience, epidemiology, disease surveillance, monitoring & evaluation of programs and policy development.

From 2008, Sema was a Program Officer with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She led a portfolio on voluntary medical male circumcision for HIV prevention across eastern and southern Africa. As part of BMGF’s India Country Office, Sema led the scale-up of the foundation’s HIV prevention program (Avahan) in several states, managed its transition to the government of India, and developed data platforms for decision-making. She worked closely with the Indian National AIDS Control Program to assist in the design of their program and strengthen their analytic efforts.

Sgaier was born in 1975 in Tripoli, Libya to a Libyan father and Turkish mother. Sgaier studied Molecular Biology and Genetics at Bogazici University (Istanbul, Turkey) where she graduated with her Bachelor of Science in 2005, ranking first of her class. Sgaier later obtained her Masters in Art in Neuroscience from Brown University in 1999 and Masters in Science and Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in Cellular and Molecular Biology (Developmental Genetics) in 2005 from New York University. She conducted her Postdoctoral training in Human Genomics in the Lab of Dr. Christopher A. Walsh at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School.