AIDS Scientist Elected to Royal Society

South African AIDS researcher and scientist, Salim Abdool Karim, PhD, CAPRISA Professor of Global Health in Epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, has been elected a Fellow of the prestigious Royal Society, the world’s oldest science academy.  

Established in 1660, the Royal Society, based in London, has included many of the world’s leading scientists over the past four centuries from Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin to Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.

Abdool Karim is also director of CAPRISA in South Africa and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

A clinical infectious diseases epidemiologist, Abdool Karim is widely recognized for his research contributions in HIV prevention and treatment. He was co-leader of the CAPRISA 004 tenofovir gel trial that provided proof-of-concept that antiretrovirals can prevent sexually transmitted HIV infection and herpes simplex virus type 2 in women. His clinical research on TB-HIV treatment has shaped international guidelines on the clinical management of co-infected patients. He serves as Chair of the UNAIDS Scientific Expert Panel, Chair of the World Health Organisation’s Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on HIV and a member of the WHO TB-HIV Task Force.  

He has received many awards, including the most prestigious scientific award in Africa - the African Union’s “Kwame Nkrumah Continental Scientific Award”. Abdool Karim is an elected Member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, The World Academy of Sciences and serves on the Boards of several journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet HIV, and Lancet Global Health.