Professor Salim S. Abdool Karim is a South African clinical infectious diseases epidemiologist widely recognised for his scientific contributions and leadership in the fields of AIDS and COVID-19. He is the Director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) and Professor of Global Health at Columbia University in New York. Additionally, he is a Special Advisor on pandemics to the Director-General of the WHO. Professor Karim holds positions as an adjunct Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard University, an adjunct Professor of Medicine at Cornell University, and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He previously served as President of the South African Medical Research Council. He is a member of the WHO Science Council and Vice President of the International Science Council. He also serves on the boards of several journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Global Health, and Lancet HIV. His accolades include the Canada Gairdner Award, the VinFuture Prize, Japan’s Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize, and the African Union’s Kwame Nkrumah Prize, the highest award for research in Africa. Professor Karim is also the author of Standing Up for Science and a member of the US National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Microbiology. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society.
South Africa