The rockefeller university

RECIPIENT OF THE HONORARY DEGREE

Widely recognized for transformational infectious disease research, Salim Abdool Karim has provided inspirational leadership through the AIDS epidemic in South Africa and the global COVID-19 pandemic. At home and on the world stage, he has combated dangerous false narratives and offered science-based guidance about how to navigate these microbial scourges. He is Director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) and the CAPRISA Professor of Global Health in the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia University.

In 1983, Salim graduated with a medical degree from the University of Natal in South Africa. He subsequently received two master’s degrees—in medicine and community health—before completing a Ph.D. at the University of Natal in 1999. Sandwiched between those experiences, he earned a master’s degree in epidemiology from Columbia University in 1988 as the AIDS epidemic was erupting in New York City.

He returned to South Africa, where the illness was still silent and, with his wife, Quarraisha, began probing where HIV was hiding. This study and others illuminated the cycle of heterosexual HIV transmission and produced life-saving approaches for preventing and treating people with the virus.

He and Quarraisha established CAPRISA and trained hundreds of South African HIV and tuberculosis scientists. He also spearheaded the development of four other major research centers. Salim rose as a prominent public media figure in South Africa as he educated his fellow citizens during eras of rampant confusion and misinformation about AIDS and COVID-19. Throughout, he has advised governments and world leaders as they have crafted policies to combat these scourges. He currently serves as Special Advisor on pandemics to the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). Other senior advisory positions include membership in the WHO Science Council and Chair of the Africa CDC’s Emergency Consultative Group.

Salim is a fellow of the Royal Society, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, and a fellow of The World Academy of Science. He and Quarraisha jointly received the Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service Award, the John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award, the Fourth Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize, and the VinFuture Special Prize. In addition, he has earned many other awards, some of which Quarraisha also received separately. He won the John Maddox Prize for Standing Up for Science.