Graeme Meintjes leads a research programme that focuses on the clinical conditions affecting patients with advanced HIV disease including disseminated HIV-associated tuberculosis, the tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (TB-IRIS) and cryptococcal meningitis. His group also investigates drug-resistant tuberculosis and diagnostics for TB, as well as prevention strategies for HIV and SARS-CoV-2. He has been the PI or local PI of several clinical trials, and conducts observational cohort studies that address questions related to disease pathogenesis. Graeme was principal investigator (PI) of the EDCTP-funded PredART trial that demonstrated that prednisone was effective and safe for the prevention of TB-IRIS in patients at high-risk starting ART (antiretroviral therapy), published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2018. He is currently co-PI of the Wellcome-funded NEW STRAT TB trial investigating novel treatment strategies in patients admitted to hospital with disseminated HIV-associated TB.

He has contributed to the development of management guidelines for HIV, TB and cryptococcal meningitis at a provincial and national level and in WHO (World Health Organization) Guideline Development Groups. He is a Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) and the College of Fellows of UCT, and holds a B1 rating from the National Research Foundation. He has been awarded Training (2007), Intermediate (2012) and Senior (2019) Fellowships by the Wellcome Trust. Graeme undertakes clinical work as a specialist at Groote Schuur Hospital and Khayelitsha Hospital. He also co-ordinates the undergraduate teaching programme of the Department of Medicine. He is the PI of the Fogarty HIV-associated TB Training Program held at UCT in partnership with Johns Hopkins and Vanderbilt Universities