Mohamed Ameen Dabhelia – 2016/03/26

The L’Oréal Foundation and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organsiation (UNESCO) announced that Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim has been named one of five “exceptional laureates” of the 2016 prestigious L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Award for her “remarkable contribution to the prevention and treatment of HIV and associated infections, greatly improving the quality of life of women in Africa.”

Laureates are selected for each of the 5 regions of the world; Professor Abdool Karim was selected for the region of Africa and the Arab States.

She is Associate Scientific Director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) and Professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.

She is also Honorary Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

“I am honored to be selected for this Award,” said Prof Abdool Karim, “and feel privileged to be among the Award’s recipients, as many of the past awardees have been an inspiration to me and many other women researchers I work with.”

Nominations for this award were received from some 2 600 leading scientists globally and the 2016 winners were selected by an international jury of 13 prominent scientists.

President of the Jury and Nobel Laureate Professor Elizabeth Blackburn congratulated the winners and said:

“2016’s laureates bring an extraordinary vision and immediate solutions to major human health issues…All their careers are exceptional, their discoveries truly new and they epitomise top-level research.”

Prof Abdool Karim’s scientific and research contributions in understanding the evolving HIV epidemic over the past 25 years has had a profound impact on HIV treatment and prevention policies at a global level.

She is a Foreign Associate Member of the US National Academy of Science (formerly, Institute of Medicine), Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa, Fellow of the Academy of Science of South Africa and Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences. She is currently Vice-President of the African Academy of Sciences.

Prof Abdool Karim is a member of the UNAIDS Scientific Expert Panel and Scientific Advisor to the Executive Director of UNAIDS.

She will receive the 2016 L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science award at a ceremony to be held in March 2016 in Paris.

Twitter: @thedabhelia