Professor Anne Strode is Academic Leader of Socio-Legal Studies at the School of Law, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. She teaches constitutional and human rights law to second year LLB and Legal Studies (non LLB) students. Before joining the University Ann worked as a human rights lawyer for a number of NGOs working on social justice issues. During this time she worked extensively on programmes addressing HIV as a human rights issue. She also spend a number of years in the HIV/AIDS Directorate at the Department of Health in Pretoria developing HIV policy for the new democratic government. Achievements included; being a member of the South African Law Reform’s Commission’s Project Committee on AIDS which made five legal and policy recommendations to various government departments, assisting with drafting of the sections on HIV in the Employment Equity Act and assisting in the development of the first para-legal manual on AIDS and the law. Since joining the University in 2001, Ann has re-focused her work around research and teaching. However, she retains her interest in social justice issues by undertaking research projects on critical human rights issues and through continuing to provide support
Ann is a well-establish author having produced more than 40 peer reviewed publications. She has a keen research interest in HIV as a human rights issue. She has undertaken a amongst others; a qualitative study into issues such as the forced or coerced sterilization of women living with HIV and critiquing legal approaches to HIV in the sub-Saharan region. She also writes in the area of research participants’ rights. Her PhD dealt with the legal complexities of the participation of children in health research. She has published widely on the ethical-legal complexities of adolescent HIV prevention research.