Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim

Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim is an NRF A-rated scientist, infectious diseases epidemiologist and Associate Scientific Director of CAPRISA. Her research for the past 28 years has focused on HIV infection in adolescent girls and young women. This includes the conduct of clinical trials from early phase, through proof of concept and implementation of new discoveries. She has been actively involved in the NIH funded treatment and prevention networks. She was co-chair of the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) from 2006 to 2012 and continues to be involved at a leadership level. She was the PI of the Columbia University - Southern African Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Programme (CU-SA Fogarty AITRP) that focused on establishing a strong science base and increasing the capacity to conduct clinical RCTs to highest international scientific and ethical standards. She is Professor in Clinical Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, USA and is Pro-Vice Chancellor for African Health at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Abdool Karim is the UNAIDS Special Ambassador for Adolescents and HIV, a member of the UNAIDS Scientific Expert Panel and Scientific Advisor to the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Scientific Advisory Board member of the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), member of the MACAIDS Foundation Board; Deputy-Chair of the Board of the South African Medical Research Council where she also chairs the Research and Development Committee.