Quarraisha Abdool Karim
Quarraisha Abdool Karim | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1960 Tongaat, South Africa |
| Occupation(s) | Infectious disease epidemiologist, professor, researcher |
| Years active | 1990s–present |
| Known for | HIV prevention research, CAPRISA co-founder, UNAIDS Special Ambassador for Adolescents and HIV |
| Notable work | CAPRISA 004 study, Oxford Textbook of Global Public Health (6th and 7th editions) |
Quarraisha Abdool Karim is a specialist in infectious disease epidemiology, serving as both co-founder and Associate Scientific Director of CAPRISA. She holds the position of Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at Columbia University in New York and acts as the Pro-Vice Chancellor for African Health at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Early life and education
Born in 1960 in Tongaat, South Africa, Abdool Karim was encouraged by her family to seek academic excellence. She completed a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Durban-Westville in 1981, followed by a BSc Honours in Biochemistry from the University of the Witwatersrand. She earned a master's degree specializing in Parasitology from Columbia University in 1988 and later achieved a PhD in Medicine from the University of Natal in 2000.
Career
Abdool Karim holds the role of UNAIDS Special Ambassador for Adolescents and HIV and serves as co-chair of the UNAIDS Advisory Group to its Executive Director. She participates on the WHO Covid-19 Solidarity Therapeutics and Vaccines Trial Steering Committees and co-leads the UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism aimed at Sustainable Development Goal 10. Furthermore, she is a member of the PEPFAR Scientific Advisory Board and sits on the Board of Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (USA). She also functions as Deputy Chair of the WHO Alliance for Sexual and Reproductive Health and is on CAPRISA’s Board of Control.
With over three decades dedicated to research, Abdool Karim has concentrated on HIV prevention strategies targeting adolescent girls and young women, encompassing clinical trials from initial phases through to practical application. Her groundbreaking CAPRISA 004 study was the first to prove that antiretroviral drugs can effectively prevent HIV infection, earning recognition as one of Science magazine’s top scientific achievements in 2010. She has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles and co-edited both the 6th and 7th editions of the Oxford Textbook on Global Public Health. Through her involvement with the Columbia University–Southern African Fogarty AIDS International Training Program, she contributed to developing scientific expertise in southern Africa by training over 600 researchers. Abdool Karim is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (USA) and a Fellow of several esteemed organizations including The World Academy of Sciences, Royal Society of South Africa, Academy of Science of South Africa, and African Academy of Science. The South African National Research Foundation has awarded her an A1 rating.
Her focus on young women’s susceptibility to HIV, promotion of women-led prevention technologies, and integration of HIV prevention into reproductive health services has garnered her more than 30 distinguished honors. These include South Africa’s premier accolade, the Order of Mapungubwe. In 2020, she was honored with the John Dirks Canada Gairdner Award for Global Health, the Christophe Mérieux Prize from the French Academies of Sciences, and Chile’s 500 Years of the Straits of Magellan Award. The Royal Society of South Africa bestowed upon her their John F.W. Herschel Medal in 2021. Additional accolades comprise the African Union Kwame Nkrumah Award for Scientific Excellence, TWAS-Lenovo Prize, ASSAf Science-for-Society Gold Medal, South African Medical Research Council Gold Medal, L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Award for Africa and Arab States (2016), Lifetime Achievement Award from the Institute of Human Virology (USA), and HPTN Ward Cates Spirit Award (2018). She has received honorary doctorates from both University of Johannesburg (2017) and University of Stellenbosch (2020), and was designated a Living Legend by Durban for raising its profile nationally and internationally. Together with Salim Abdool Karim, she was co-recipient of the 2024 Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award.
HIV Research
During the 1990s, South Africa was confronted with a critical HIV crisis. It was in this context that Quarraisha Abdool Karim began conducting socio-behavioural investigations into HIV transmission among women, focusing on variables such as gender, age, and patterns of migration. Her 1992 study underscored the heightened susceptibility of women to HIV and revealed a significant link between migration—particularly among men—and increased infection rates. Throughout that decade, Abdool Karim produced numerous publications that identified populations at elevated risk.
In 2007, CAPRISA initiated the groundbreaking CAPRISA 004 clinical trial, with Abdool Karim serving as the lead investigator. This research evaluated the efficacy of Tenofovir gel in lowering the risk of HIV infection, representing a major advancement in microbicide development. The trial demonstrated a 39% decrease in new HIV cases, earning considerable recognition at the XVIII International AIDS Conference in 2010. Subsequently, in 2017, Abdool Karim co-edited The CAPRISA Clinical Trials: HIV Treatment and Prevention, which compiled key insights from this essential work.
Building on the success of CAPRISA 004, Abdool Karim sustained her extensive research on HIV/AIDS within South Africa. She co-wrote HIV/AIDS in South Africa (first published in 2005 with a second edition in 2010) alongside Salim Abdool Karim and also co-edited the sixth edition of the Oxford Textbook of Global Public Health (2015). In recognition of her influential role in global HIV prevention strategies, she was appointed UNAIDS Special Ambassador for Adolescents and HIV in 2017.
Leadership and working for equality
In addition to her contributions to HIV/AIDS research, Abdool Karim has played a vital role in enhancing scientific education and capacity building across South Africa. Since 1998, she has been instrumental in training over 600 scientists through the Columbia University-Southern African Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Programme. Furthermore, she is a passionate advocate for increasing female participation in science, actively encouraging young women to pursue careers in this domain.
Awards and honours
Abdool Karim’s pioneering work on HIV/AIDS has earned her numerous prestigious awards, including becoming the first female recipient of the TWAS-Lenovo Science Prize, which comes with a $100,000 award.
- 2010: CAPRISA 004 Trials recognized as one of Science magazine’s Top 10 scientific breakthroughs
- 2011: Olusegun Obasanjo Prize
- 2013: Order of Mapungubwe (Bronze)
- 2014: TWAS-Lenovo Science Prize
- 2014: SAMRC Scientific Merit Award (Gold)
- 2014: ASSAF Science-for-Society Award (Gold)
- 2015: eThekwini Living Legends Award
- 2016: L'Oreal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science
- 2020: Canada Gairdner Global Health Award
- 2020: Christophe Mérieux Prize
- 2020: Straits of Magellan Award
- 2022: VinFuture Prize
- 2024: Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service Award
- 2025: Fellowship of the Royal Society
- 2025: Honorary Doctorate from McGill University
In 2017, the BBC honored Abdool Karim by naming her among seven women who have made groundbreaking contributions to science.
Personal life
Quarraisha Abdool Karim is married to epidemiologist Salim Abdool Karim from South Africa, with whom she occasionally partners on research projects. She is a mother to three children and resides in a home located in Durban.