Profs Kogie Naidoo and Nigel Garrett receive SAMRC Scientific merit awards
Professors Kogie Naidoo, Deputy Director and Head of Treatment Research and Nigel Garrett, Head of Vaccines and Pathogenesis received the prestigious South African Medical Research Council’s (SAMRC) Silver Scientific Achievement award in recognition of research excellence.
The awards, “to acknowledge outstanding contributions to health research”, were presented at the SAMRC’s 10th scientific merit awards held on 7 March in Cape Town. “The SAMRC recognises and congratulates you as an outstanding South African scientist who has contributed to raising the profile of science in South Africa,” said Professor Glenda Gray, SAMRC President and CEO.
Professor Kogie Naidoo is among South Africa’s most accomplished medical scientists and plays a leading role in tuberculosis research. She leads several CAPRISA studies aimed at optimizing treatment strategies to further reduce deaths in patients co-infected with TB-HIV and optimizing outcomes for drug resistant TB patients, many of them co-infected with HIV. She leads a large team of researchers across multiple research sites and works with a diverse team of global collaborators to improve the understanding of finding, preventing and optimising therapeutic outcomes of TB disease in HIV infection.
Professor Nigel Garrett is the Deputy Director for Science of the BRILLIANT (BRinging Innovation to cLinical and Laboratory research to end HIV In Africa through New vaccine Technology) consortium – following a USAID multi-million rand grant to the SAMRC for the implementation of a programme called “HIV Vaccine Innovation, Science, and Technology Acceleration in Africa (HIV-VISTA).” Garrett was the Co-Chair of the Sisonke and SHERPA COVID-19 vaccine implementation trials, is Principal Investigator on several HVTN and COVPN vaccine trials and leads US National Institute of Health self-initiated grants on point-of-care technology.