Al-Qalam 
The worlds renowned scientist has dedicated 32-years of her life to research in HIV Prevention and Women’s Health. Sana Ebrahim interviewed her.
“You need persistence as you can’t give up every time you fail”, these are the wise words of Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim, one of the world’s foremost scientist in HIV prevention and treatment research.
Prof Quarraisha Abdool Karim is the Associate Scientific Director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) – an NRF A1-rated scientist and infectious diseases epidemiologist.
She is Professor in Clinical Epidemiology at Columbia University in New York and Pro-Vice Chancellor for African Health, at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Abdool Karim is an Executive Steering Committee member of both the WHO COVID-19 SOLIDARITY Treatment and Vaccine Trials.
She has fond memories of her childhood days in the northern town of Tongaat in KwaZulu-Natal where she received her primary and secondary education at the Vishwaroop State Aided Primary School, and at Tongaat High.
Prof. Abdool Karim’s academic qualifications are impressive.
She completed her BSc degree majoring in Microbiology and Biochemistry at the former University of Durban-Westville, her Honours in Medical Microbiology at the University of Witwatersrand, her Masters in Science at Columbia University in the US and her PhD in Medicine at the University of Natal.
Her research over the past 32 years has focused on the evolving HIV epidemic and preventing HIV infections in adolescent girls and young women. She has conducted clinical trials from an early phase, through proof of concept and implementation of new discoveries. Her landmark study, the tenofovir gel CAPRISA 004 trial, demonstrated for the first time that antiretrovirals can prevent HIV infection. The study was highlighted by the journal ‘Science’ as one of the top 10 scientific breakthroughs in 2010. Since then CAPRISA has focused its efforts to advance understanding of behavioural and biological factors enhancing HIV infection in young women and on less user dependent HIV prevention technologies for women that address a social challenge of gender-power disparities that preclude their ability to remain HIV free.
Prestigious
In 2020 she was awarded the pre-eminent Christophe Mérieux Prize in Infectious Diseases by the French Academy of Sciences and is co-recipient with Salim Abdool Karim of the prestigious John Dirks-Canada Gairdner Global Health Award for their work in the prevention and treatment of HIV in women.
“As long as I can remember, I have been curious and being a scientist was a natural career choice for me. Generating new knowledge is a very long and slow process and challenging as you more often end up with a negative result than a positive one. You need persistence as you can’t give up every time you fail. Having a goal, one is passionate about ones resilience to keep focused and continue despite adversity encountered along the way,” she added.
Abdool Karim has also played a central role in building a critical mass of scientists in Southern Africa through the Columbia University – Southern African Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Programme that has trained over 600 scientists in Southern Africa. She has received over 30 local and international prestigious awards including South Africa’s highest honour, the Order of Mapungubwe, from the President of South Africa and the World Academy of Science TWAS-Lenovo Award.
Prof Abdool Karim is a co-chair of the UNAIDS Advisory Group to the Executive Director; member of the UNAIDS 2025 target setting and resource mobilization Steering Committee, and Scientific Advisory Board member of the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
She is a Living Legend for the City of Durban – an honour bestowed by the city for citizens who have made an exemplary contribution to increase the profile of the city nationally and internationally.
Her advice to the women of South Africa: “It is your time to shine. You have many opportunities to make a difference, seize them and soar! Be the architect of your own destiny!”
