Salim S. Abdool Karim, MBChB, MMed, MS(Epi), FFPHM, FFPath (Virol), DipData, PhD, DSc(hc) is a South African public health physician,

epidemiologist Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...

and

virologist Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, thei ...

who has played a leading role in the AIDS and

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. His scientific contributions have impacted the landscape of

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immu ...

prevention and treatment, saving thousands of lives

Career

Karim is a professor at both the

University of KwaZulu-Natal The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) is a university with five campuses in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It was formed on 1 January 2004 after the merger between the University of Natal and the University of Durban-Westville ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

, and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. He was involved in the study.UKZN
"CAPRISA Trial Scoops USAID Award "Breakthrough Microbicide Gel Prevents HIV and Herpes in Women"
, ''University of KwaZulu-Natal'', Durban, 31 January 2014. Retrieved on 27 September 2014. During the

, Karim was chosen to lead a 45-person Ministerial Advisory Committee. The committee was intended to guide the South African government's response to the pandemic, and included several other medical experts. He was elected to be the Vice President for Outreach and Engagement of the

International Science Council The International Science Council (ISC) is an international non-governmental organization that unites scientific bodies at various levels across the social and natural sciences. The ISC was formed with its inaugural general assembly on 4 July 201 ...

from 2021 to 2024 at the ISC General Assembly on 14 October 2021.

Education

A second-generation South African of Indian heritage, he was born in 1960 in

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

and attended primary school in the Durban city centre before his family was forcibly relocated under

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

’s racial

Group Areas Act Group Areas Act was the title of three acts of the Parliament of South Africa enacted under the apartheid government of South Africa. The acts assigned racial groups to different residential and business sections in urban areas in a system of ...

from Durban to Chatsworth, a racially segregated township in the south of the city. After completing high school in Durban in 1977, he attended the

University of Natal The University of Natal was a university in the former South African province Natal which later became KwaZulu-Natal. The University of Natal no longer exists as a distinct legal entity, as it was incorporated into the University of KwaZulu- ...

’s medical school. Unable to afford university fees, he had to scrap his original plan to study engineering when he could only secure scholarship funding to study medicine. Despite this setback, he obtained a student loan whilst at medical school to concurrently study computer science and statistics via correspondence at the

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA), known colloquially as Unisa, is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, U ...

. Under the mentorship of pediatricia
Professor Jerry Coovadia
he conducted his first research project as a third-year medical student, leading to his first publication, a paper in the ''

International Journal of Health Services The ''International Journal of Health Services'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering health policy. It was established in 1971 and is published by SAGE Publications. The current editors-in-chief are Carles Muntaner (University ...

''. This publication highlighted several racial disparities in health status during apartheid.

Medical Training

In 1984, he completed his Internship at King Edward VIII Hospital,

, followed by an MRC research fellowship. He then joined the Department of

Virology Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, th ...

at the

in 1986, to start his doctoral research on

Hepatitis B Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the '' Hepatitis B virus'' (HBV) that affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. It can cause both acute and chronic infection. Many people have no symptoms during an initial infection. F ...

viral infection. He trained in

when it was not a recognized medical specialty but was subsequently awarded an Honorary Fellowship in Virology by the College of Medicine of South Africa in recognition of his seminal contributions in this discipline. In mid-1987, he went to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

on a Rockefeller fellowship to pursue a Masters in Epidemiology at

. In January 1988, he returned briefly to South Africa to marry Quarraisha Khan, a

molecular biologist Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

. During 1988, he also studied health economics at

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a member institution of the University of London that specialises in public health and tropical medicine. The inst ...

and methods of epidemic investigations at the

Centers for Disease Control The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georg ...

(CDC) in Atlanta, USA. He returned to South Africa at the end of 1988 to contribute through research to addressing the burgeoning

epidemic in South Africa. This initiated his life-long collaboration with Quarraisha Abdool Karim, his wife, beginning their first joint study in 1989, which was one of the earliest community-based HIV surveys undertaken in Africa. In 1992, he started his specialist training in public health, completing his Fellowship in Public Health Medicine with the College of Medicine, South Africa, while simultaneously graduating with a Masters in Medicine degree in Community Health from the

. In 1999, he obtained a PhD in Medicine from the University of Natal, based on his research on the epidemiology of Hepatitis B Virus infection in South Africa.

Research career

In 1985, he spent a year post-internship conducting research at the SAMRC. In 1992, he joined the SAMRC as a senior

and was appointed Director of the MRC’s Centre for Epidemiological Research in South Africa (CERSA) in 1993. During his tenure, he built CERSA up as the largest medical research organization in

, enabling it to play a leading role in public health, both locally and globally. Almost a decade later, he decided to switch to a leadership position in higher education, taking up the position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor of research at the

in 2001. Following the post-apartheid merger of the Universities of Natal and Durban Westville in 2004, he developed and implemented a new research strategy for the newly formed

with a focus on African scholarship. Professor Abdool Karim is widely recognized for his visionary and bold leadership in conceptualizing and creating research institutions in South Africa. During his tenure at the MRC and the University of KwaZulu-Natal, he created five new successful research centres – building research infrastructure and capacity in South Africa. He was the Principal Investigator of the grants that created the

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of one of the predecessors of Glax ...

-funded Africa Centre for Population Studies and Reproductive Health in 1997, and the MRC’s HIV Prevention and Vaccine Research Unit in 2000 with a $16million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In 2002, he secured a $15 million NIH grant to create the

Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa CAPRISA ("Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa") is the name of an AIDS research center based in Durban, South Africa. History CAPRISA was established in 2002 under the National Institutes of Health program called Compreh ...

(

CAPRISA CAPRISA ("Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa") is the name of an AIDS research center based in Durban, South Africa. History CAPRISA was established in 2002 under the National Institutes of Health program called Compreh ...

). He led the teams that established LifeLab, a $10 million biotechnology research centre in 2003 and the $70 million KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for TB and HIV (K-RITH), funded by the

Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American business magnate, investor, record-setting pilot, engineer, f ...

, in 2007. Professor Abdool Karim served as the Founding Director of four of these five research institutes and, in LifeLab, as its Founding Board Chair.

Key Research Contributions

Professor Abdool Karim’s main research interests are in

prevention, treatment of HIV-TB co-infection, as well as the

epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evide ...

and prevention of

Covid-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

. Th
CAPRISA 004 tenofovir gel trial
which he co-led with Quarraisha Abdool Karim, provided the first evidence for the concept of antiretroviral pre-exposure prophylaxis against HIV infection. In 2012, this finding was heralded by the

UNAIDS The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) (, ONUSIDA) is the main advocate for accelerated, comprehensive and coordinated global action on the HIV/ AIDS pandemic. The mission of UNAIDS is to lead, strengthen and support an ...

and

WHO Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book ''Horton Hear ...

as one of the most significant scientific breakthroughs in the fight against AIDS and has been ranked among “The Top 10 Scientific Breakthroughs of 2010” by ''Science''. This study also discovered that tenofovir gel prevents herpes simplex virus type 2 infection in women, which is the first biological prevention agent against genital herpes. He also led the team that provided the empiric evidence for the “Cycle of HIV Transmission” where young girls are most often infected by men about 10 years older. These findings provided the evidence for the UNAIDS Report “Get on the Fast-Track – The Life-Cycle approach to HIV”, which has influenced the HIV response in several African countries and is listed as the highest priority in the current South African National AIDS Plan. In the field of HIV vaccines, he is co-inventor on patents that are part of HIV vaccine candidates, as well as CAP256V2LS, a highly potent broadly neutralizing antibody that is being developed for passive immunization as a prelude to future HIV vaccine development. With regards to treatment, his research on HIV-TB treatment was adopted in the WHO treatment guidelines of this co-infection and has been implemented in most countries. These significant findings have had a marked impact on HIV prevention and HIV-TB treatment in Africa and globally. During the Covid-19 pandemic, his most impactful contributions focused on the public health and clinical implications of

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a No ...

variants. Professor Abdool Karim’s scientific contributions include over 450 peer-reviewed journal publications. He is co-editor of an Epidemiology textbook (

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

), a book on HIV/AIDS in South Africa (

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambr ...

) and a book on HIV Clinical Trials (

Springer Springer or springers may refer to: Publishers * Springer Science+Business Media, aka Springer International Publishing, a worldwide publishing group founded in 1842 in Germany formerly known as Springer-Verlag. ** Springer Nature, a multinationa ...

). He has received grants as Principal Investigator in excess of $200million, including grants from the

NIH The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late 1 ...

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible f ...

, US

CDC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

and Prevention,

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

, South African Department of Science and Technology and the

. He is one of the world’s most highly cited researchers – being listed from 2018 to 2022 on the Web of Science’s Clarivate Analytics annual list of the world’s six thousand most influential researchers by citations in the sciences and social sciences. His most highly cited journal article, jointly first-authored with Quarraisha Abdool Karim (''Science'' 2010; 329: 1168-1174), exceeds 2000 citations. He has made a significant contribution to scientific capacity building and training as co-principal investigator with Quarraisha Abdool Karim of the Fogarty International Centre funded AIDS-TB training programme for a decade. More than 600 researchers from several countries in southern Africa have been trained in AIDS and TB research through this programme.

Affiliations

He is director of th
Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa
(CAPRISA) and CAPRISA Professor of Global Health in

Epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evide ...

at the

Mailman School of Public Health The Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Columbia University. Located on the Columbia University Medical Center campus in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, the school ...

. He is also Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the

, South Africa, Adjunct Professor of

Immunology Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see ther ...

and

Infectious Diseases An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable d ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, Boston and Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the Weill Medical College of

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...

, New York. As Director of CAPRISA, he is also the Director of 4 research centres hosted within CAPRISA. He is the Director of the UNAIDS Collaborating Centre for

Research and Policy, the Centre of Excellence in HIV Prevention of the South African National Research Foundation, a Centre of Excellence of the

Global Virus Network The Global Virus Network (GVN) is an international coalition of medical virologists whose goal is to help the international medical community by improving the detection and management of viral diseases. The network was founded in 2011 by Robert G ...

and a

South African Medical Research Council The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) is a para-statal medical research organisation in South Africa. The current president is professor Glenda Gray. The South African Medical Research Council was established in 1969 to act as an inde ...

(SAMRC) extra-mural research unit for HIV-TB Pathogenesis and Treatment. During his tenure as President of the SAMRC from 2012-2014, he led the turnaround of an 800-person organization in serious decline by redefining its strategic mission, enhancing organizational efficiencies, increasing its budget three-fold and raising its research impact and international stature. The February 2014 issue of ''

Nature Medicine ''Nature Medicine'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal published by Nature Portfolio covering all aspects of medicine. It was established in 1995. The journal seeks to publish research papers that "demonstrate novel insight into disease pro ...

'' acknowledged and described how he turned a “moribund” MRC around with “visionary leadership”.

Scientific Advice and Policy Contributions

Professor Abdool Karim has made major contributions to AIDS and

policies, both in Africa and globally. He has provided scientific advice in AIDS, Covid-19 and global health to several governments as well as international agencies such as the

, ISC,

PEPFAR The United States President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is a United States governmental initiative to address the global HIV/AIDS epidemic and help save the lives of those suffering from the disease. Launched by U.S. President Geo ...

and the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. He is on the 9-member WHO Science Council, that provides scientific advice to the

WHO Director-General The director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) is the chief executive officer of WHO and the principal advisor to the United Nations on matters pertaining global health. The director general is elected by and answers to the World ...

. He was the Chair of the UNAIDS Scientific Expert Panel, that provided scientific advice to the Executive Director of UNAIDS. He served as a member of the UNAIDS-Lancet Commission on “Defeating AIDS”, co-authoring its 2015 report in the Lancet, that mapped out a future direction for the global AIDS response. He is currently a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Global Health at the

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was ...

and a member of the WHO HIV-TB Task Force. More recently, he has been contributing to Covid-19 policies and served as the Chair of the South African Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19 and as a Member of the Africa Task Force for Coronavirus, The Africa Task Force on Covid-19 and the Lancet Commission on Covid-19. He has previously served as a Member of the

Scientific Advisory Board, the Gates Foundation’s Global HIV Prevention Working Group and the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on

Sexually Transmitted Infections Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and ora ...

. He was the Chair of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Group of the WHO’s Department of Reproductive Health and Research as well as for its HIV and STI Department. In 1996, he was elected to the Governing Council of the

International Epidemiological Association The International Epidemiological Association (IEA) is a worldwide association with more than 2000 members in over 100 different countries, who follow the aims of the association to facilitate communication amongst those engaged in research and t ...

, where he served a 3-year term. He is currently a Vice President of the

Scientific Recognition

Professor Abdool Karim is an elected Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...

. He is an elected Member of the

US National Academy of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, En ...

. He is a Fellow of the

. In addition, he is a Member / Fellow of the

American Academy of Microbiology The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), originally the Society of American Bacteriologists, is a professional organization for scientists who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa as well as other aspects of microbiology. It wa ...

Association of American Physicians The Association of American Physicians (AAP) is an honorary medical society founded in 1885 by the Canadian physician Sir William Osler and six other distinguished physicians of his era for "the advancement of scientific and practical medicine." ...

(AAP),

The World Academy of Sciences The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) is a merit-based science academy established for developing countries, uniting 1,000 scientists in some 70 countries. Its principal aim is to promote scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable deve ...

(TWAS),

African Academy of Sciences The African Academy of Sciences (AAS) is a non-aligned, non-political, not-for-profit, pan-African learned society formed in 1985. The AAS elects fellows ( FAAS) and affiliates. The AAS also awards the Obasanjo Prize for Scientific Discovery a ...

(AAS), Academy of Science in South Africa (ASSAf) and the

Royal Society of South Africa The Royal Society of South Africa is a learned society composed of eminent South African scientists and academics. The society was granted its royal charter by King Edward VII in 1908, nearly a century after Capetonians first began to conceive of ...

(RSSAf). He is a member of the Editorial Board of the ''

New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one. His ...

.'' He serves on the International Advisory Boards of ''Lancet HIV'' and ''

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823. The journal publishes original research articles, ...

- Global Health''. He also previously served as a member of the Board of Reviewing Editors of ''eLife'', Associate Editor for ''AIDS Clinical Care'' and Corresponding Editor for the ''International Journal of Infectious Diseases''. He has served as a Reviewer for more than 40 scientific journals. He has chaired and organized several AIDS conferences, most prominently as Chairperson of the Scientific Program Committee for the 2000 Durban XIII^th International AIDS Conference that redefined the global AIDS response and led to antiretrovirals becoming affordable. He is frequently invited to deliver plenary addresses at major international conferences, including talks at the International AIDS Conference (including the Opening Plenary in the 2014 International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Australia), the International AIDS Vaccine Conference, International Microbicides Conference and the

International Society for Infectious Diseases The International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID), established in 1986, is a nonprofit organization that monitors infectious diseases on a global scale. It also offers grants and fellowships, publishes a journal, and runs online learning p ...

Conference.

Prizes and Awards

His contributions in AIDS have been recognized nationally and internationally through several prestigious awards. He received the most prestigious scientific award in Africa - the African Union’s “Kwame Nkrumah Continental Scientific Award”. His other international awards include Japan’s

Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize The honors men and women "with outstanding achievements in the fields of medical research and medical services to combat infectious and other diseases in Africa, thus contributing to the health and welfare of the African people and of all humankind ...

for medical research, Kuwait’s “Al-Sumait Prize” for research contributing to African development, Canada’s John Dirks Gairdner Health Award, Vietnam’s VinFuture Special Prize, Chile’s 500 years of the Straits of Magellan Award and the African Union – Africa CDC’s CPHIA Lifetime Achievement in Public Health Award. In 2020, he received, jointly with Dr A Fauci, the John Maddox Prize for Standing up for Science from Sense about Science and Nature. He received a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Institute of Human Virology, the DIA - Drug Information Association’s “President's Award for Outstanding Achievement in World Health”, the African Academy of Science’s “Olusegun Obasanjo Prize for Scientific Discovery and Technological Innovation”,

’s “Allan Rosenfield Alumni Award”, the “Outstanding Senior African Scientist Award” from the

– Developing Countries Partnership, and the “TWAS Prize in Medical Sciences” from

TWAS The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) is a merit-based science academy established for developing countries, uniting 1,000 scientists in some 70 countries. Its principal aim is to promote scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable deve ...

. He has also been awarded the “Distinguished Scholar Award” from the Biomedical HIV Prevention Forum of Nigeria, and the

“Science and Technology Pioneers Prize” (awarded to the CAPRISA 004 team) from US Agency for International Development. He has also been recognized for his broader contributions to society beyond his research through the “Hero in Medicine” Award from the International Association of Physicians for AIDS Care (IAPAC) and the “Men’s Health Award” in the Science & Technology category from

Men’s Health ''Men's Health'' (''MH''), published by Hearst, is the world's largest men's magazine brand, with 35 editions in 59 countries. It is also the best-selling men's magazine on U.S. newsstands. Started as a men's health magazine by Rodale, Inc. ...

magazine. He has received Honorary Doctorates from the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

and

Rhodes University Rhodes University is a public university, public research university located in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, ...

. He received the

UNISA The University of South Australia (UniSA) is a public research university in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network of universities, and is the largest university in South Austral ...

Chancellor’s Calabash Award from the

and Honorary Fellowship of the Mangosuthu University of Technology in South Africa. In South Africa, he has received the MRC’s “Platinum Medal Lifetime Achievement Award”, “Gold Medal Award for Fellowship in the Art & Science of Medicine” from the

South African Medical Association The South African Medical Association (SAMA) is a non-statutory, professional association for public- and private-sector medical practitioners in South Africa. Registered as a non-profit organisation it acts as a trade union for its public-sect ...

, the “John F. W. Herschel Medal” from the

and the “Science for Society Gold Medal Award” from the Academy of Science in South Africa. He has been ranked as being among the 50 all-time “''Legends of South African Science''” by the Academy of Science of South Africa.

Anti-Apartheid, Anti-Corruption and Human Rights Activism

In 1980, he joined the anti-apartheid movement, initially as a student activist. He played a key role in creating and publishing a community newspaper, called “Ukusa”, that rallied support against the atrocities of racial oppression. As an anti-apartheid activist and community organizer, he participated in the 1983 Mitchells Plain, Cape Town launch of the United Democratic Front, a turning point in the struggle against apartheid through a new broad-based non-racial liberation movement. Shortly after graduating as a medical doctor in 1983, he played a key role in creating and building an anti-apartheid organization for doctors and dentists, known as NAMDA – National Medical and Dental Association – that fought against racial and gender disparities in health. In 1988, he received the “

Reebok Human Rights Award The Reebok Human Rights Award honoured activists under the age of thirty who fought for human rights through non-violent means. Each year, the award was given to four or five individuals. Each received a grant of US $50,000 that was to be used to ...

” for his contributions in NAMDA to health and human rights. During the difficult years of AIDS denial in South Africa, he openly challenged Minister of Health Tshabalala-Msimang and President

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki KStJ (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who was the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (AN ...

and went further to secure antiretroviral drugs and funding to create one of the largest AIDS treatment programmes at a time when antiretroviral treatment was against government policy. He has campaigned vigorously against corruption and human rights abuses; taking a strong principled stance against corruption in South Africa. In front-page newspaper articles, he called on the country’s National Director of Public Prosecutions to step down for his failure to act against corruption. During the Covid-19 lockdown, he took a strong stand against the abuses perpetrated by the South African military and against the corruption involved in the purchase of personal protective equipment during the early stages of the pandemic. He currently serves on the Advisory Council of

Physicians for Human Rights Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a US-based not-for-profit human rights NGO that uses medicine and science to document and advocate against mass atrocities and severe human rights violations around the world. PHR headquarters are in New ...

, the New York based organization on health and human rights. He serves on the Advisory Board of “Defend our Democracy”, a South African organization fighting corruption and promoting good governance.

Personal life

Karim is a father and is married to Quarraisha Abdool Karim whom he has worked with in research.@City_Press, South Africa
"100 World Class South Africans: Salim and Quarraisha Abdool Karim"
, ''City Press'', Pretoria, Unknown date ~2013. Retrieved on 23 August 2014.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abdool Karim, Salim Living people South African medical researchers 1960 births Place of birth missing (living people) University of Natal alumni Fellows of the Royal Society of South Africa Fellows of the Royal Society TWAS laureates Fellows of the African Academy of Sciences South African epidemiologists People from eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality Academic staff of the University of KwaZulu-Natal Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health alumni South African people of Indian descent John Maddox Prize recipients Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology Members of the National Academy of Medicine TWAS fellows