Mr Tian Johnson

Tian is the head of the Pan-African health justice non-profit, the African Alliance, and brings over two decades of experience advocating for health justice, funding accountability, and well-resourced community engagement in health research and access, with an additional focus on community-led Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPPR) work. Through the Alliance, Tian’s work deliberately elevates community voice and power within research, policy, and funding systems across Africa.

A former Civil Society Advisor to the World Bank’s Pandemic Fund, Tian supported the Fund’s Second Call for Proposals, which allocated USD 547 million to 50 countries across six regions, including USD 128.89 million fast-tracked to ten countries responding to mpox. Tian serves on the International Steering Committee of the Robert Carr Fund, the world’s largest funding mechanism for networks and movements of inadequately served populations. They are also a Commissioner on The Lancet Global Health Commission on HIV and AI, a member of the Advisory Council of the Global LGBTI+ Rights Commission, and a Senior Fellow of the Aspen Institute’s New Voices Fellowship. Tian’s writing in The Lancet, Mail & Guardian, News24, Health-e News, Daily Maverick, Project Syndicate, and other outlets continues to shape discourse on accountability, solidarity, and Pan-African liberation in health governance.

As Co-Principal Investigator (Community) for the BRILLIANT HIV Vaccine Discovery Consortium, a USD 47 million USAID-funded, fully African-led initiative spanning eight African countries until the termination of the funding agency, Tian co-directed community engagement that integrated the lived realities of key populations into the Consortium's work. The Consortium’s Scientific Advisory Group commended this work as “exceeding expectations,” demonstrating that rigorous science and meaningful community inclusion can coexist. Tian’s facilitation work also translates the lived realities of inadequately served populations into grounded policy, strategy, and collective action through advisory engagements with major philanthropic and donor agencies across Africa.