Quarraisha Abdool Karim

Quarraisha Abdool Karim, FRS, is co-founder and John C Martin Chair in Global Health, CAPRISA; Professor in Clinical Epidemiology, Columbia University, and Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal. She is a South African infectious diseases epidemiologist whose pioneering research has transformed HIV prevention and sexual reproductive health for young women; informed clinical management of HIV-TB co-infected patients and contributed to responses to COVID-19. She has published over 300 peer-reviewed papers in top journals like The Lancet, Nature, Science, and The New England Journal of Medicine, and contributed to foundational public health textbooks. She is currently President of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and UNAIDS Special Ambassador for Adolescents and HIV.  She is actively engaged in science diplomacy and is special advisor to key global health research and policy-making bodies including WHO, UNAIDS, CBAS and PEPFAR. A strong advocate for equity and the transformative role that science can play for sustainable development particularly in the Global South, she has strengthened the science base in southern Africa through training over 600 scientists through the NIH Fogarty AIDS International Research and Training Program. Her trailblazing contributions have earned her more than 40 prestigious awards and honorary doctorates, including the L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science, the Canada Gairdner Global Health Award, the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize, the Virchow Award; Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award; and Fellowship to several national and international science academies including the African Academy of Sciences; US National Academy of Medicine; and the Academy of Science of South Africa.