Following in the footsteps of her parents, Dr Safura Abdool Karim was conferred a Doctor of Philosophy in Law during the UKZN’s Autumn Graduation ceremonies.
Both her parents, Professors Quarraisha Abdool Karim and Salim Abdool Karim, obtained their PhDs at the then-University of Natal. Leading in HIV and AIDS research, they also contributed heavily in the country’s Covid-19 policies and research globally.
“We are a family of public health enthusiasts, both of my parents are epidemiologists who focus on infectious diseases, and my two siblings also work in health-related spaces: my sister is a health journalist and my brother did his honours in genomic sequencing,” she said.
After completing her LLM at Georgetown University, Washington, influenced substantially by the chance to be supervised by UKZN’s Professor David McQuoid-Mason, founder of South Africa’s Street Law programme, she joined her parents’ alma mater to complete her PhD studies.
Titled: Developing and Applying a Constitutional Right-Based Approach to the Regulation of the Modifiable Risk Factors for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD’s) in South Africa, Abdool Karim aimed to use her research to develop content on health care and sufficient food rights to identify obligations that could support action on NCD prevention.
The abrupt shift in public health at the beginning of the pandemic also encouraged her to include communicable diseases in her research more which led to different organisations, including the Africa Centre for Disease Control seeking her input. She has also been strongly involved in advocating for change, advising on issues and policies on Covid-19 vaccine equity.
Currently a part-time academic and a newly minted practising advocate at the Bridge Group of Advocates, Abdool Karim said her next step is to take up a post-doctoral fellowship at the Oxford-John Hopkins Global Infectious Disease Ethics Collaborative later this year.
Meanwhile, the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) will award an honorary Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Health Sciences to Professor Salim Abdool Karim later this month.
DUT is acknowledging Prof Abdool Karim for his exceptional contributions in the global health environment and his outstanding service to humanity. Later on in the evening of Wednesday, 31 May 2023, the University will host a Celebratory Gala Dinner to honour Prof Abdool Karim.
During the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Prof Abdool Karim was chosen to lead the 41-member Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19.
Prof Abdool Karim together with Dr Anthony Fauci, were honoured with the 2020 John Maddox Prize for “Standing up for Science”, acknowledging their critically important roles in the Covid-19 pandemic.
To date, the award-winning Professor Abdool Karim has published more than 500 journal articles, 12 book chapters, co-edited three books and holds six patents. He has been ranked among the world’s most highly cited scientists by Web of Science.
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