Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim
Ground-breaking contributions in understanding the evolution of the HIV epidemic in South Africa, its impact on society and in advancing its prevention in women, while simultaneously fighting for the rights of people affected by HIV and Aids, have contributed to Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim’s reputation as one of the world’s foremost medical and scientific authorities in the field of HIV and Aids research.
She obtained her BSc from the University of Durban-Westville (now the University of KwaZulu-Natal), honours degree from Wits University, Diploma in Higher Education from the University of South Africa, and master’s in parasitology from Columbia University in the US, before completing her PhD in medicine at the University of Natal (now the University of KwaZulu-Natal). Currently the director of the Columbia University-Southern African Fogarty Aids International Training and Research Program and associate scientific director and head of the Epidemiology and Prevention Organisation Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in South Africa, she started her career as a research assistant at the South African Institute of Medical Research.
Her interest and research in the field of HIV and Aids span over two decades. Abdool Karim chairs the South African National Aids Council Prevention Technical Task Team, is a member of the Unaids Scientific Expert Panel, and scientific advisor to the executive director of Unaids. She is an advisory board member of the Higher Education and Training HIV/Aids Programme, scientific advisory board member of the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), chair of the Pepfar Adolescent Girls and Young Women Expert Working Group, a member of the HIV Centre Strategic Advisory Committee, and the National Institutes of Health OAR Microbicides Planning Group. She has served on the National Aids Task Team to develop SA’s first Aids National Strategic Plan.
Abdool Karim has played a significant role in the fight against HIV and Aids in Africa, particularly in women.
She was principal investigator of the landmark study CAPRISA 004 Tenofovir Gel Trial, which provided proof of concept for microbicides, and was highlighted by Science as one of the top 10 scientific breakthroughs in 2010. The study was heralded by Unaids as one of the key milestones in the first 30 years of the Aids epidemic. Her contributions have been characterised by her passionate promotion of human rights, underscored by her testimony to the Constitutional Court case that forced the Mbeki government to implement the drug Nevirapine to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV and Aids.
She has published over 170 peer-reviewed articles, as well as several books and book chapters, and has served on various editorial and advisory boards. She is a foreign associate member, Institute of Medicine of the USA National Academies (considered one of the highest honours in the field of health and medicine), fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa, fellow of the Academy of Science of South Africa, fellow of the African Academy of Sciences, and fellow of The World Academy of Sciences. She is currently vice-president (Southern African Region) of the African Academy of Sciences.
Abdool Karim is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including South Africa’s highest honour, the Order of Mapungubwe, from the president of South Africa for outstanding work in HIV/Aids and tuberculosis research and health policy development, the African Union’s Kwame Nkrumah Prize for Science and Technology, and the TWAS-Lenovo Prize. She also received the Department of Science and Technology Distinguished Women in Science Award, the ASSAf Science-for-Society Gold Medal, and the SA Medical Research Council Gold Medal.