Salim S. Abdool Karim, PhD
The 2019-20 Cartwright Lecturer
Salim S. Abdool Karim, MBChB, PhD, FRS, is a clinical infectious diseases epidemiologist who is widely recognized for his scientific contributions to HIV prevention and treatment. He is director of the Centre for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) and CAPRISA Professor of Global Health in Epidemiology at Columbia University. He has adjunct professorships at KwaZulu-Natal, Cornell, and Harvard universities.
His clinical research on TB-HIV treatment has shaped international guidelines on the clinical management of co-infected patients. He co-led the CAPRISA 004 tenofovir gel trial that provided proof-of-concept that antiretrovirals prevent sexually transmitted HIV infection. The finding was ranked among the “Top 10 Scientific Breakthroughs of 2010” by Science. This approach, using tenofovir containing pills, is currently promoted for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) by UNAIDS and WHO.
Dr. Abdool Karim is ranked among the world’s most cited scientists by Web of Science. He serves on the boards of several journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Global Health, Lancet HIV, and mBio. He is the Chair of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
(UNAIDS) Scientific Expert Panel, World Health Organization’s (WHO) HIV Strategic and Technical Advisory Committee, and the WHO TB-HIV Task Force.
His many awards include Columbia University’s Allan Rosenfield Alumni Award for Excellence and the African Union’s Kwame Nkrumah Award, the most prestigious scientific award in Africa. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Microbiology, and the Association of American Physicians. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society.