Durban - The Faculty of Health Sciences at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) will award an honorary Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Health Sciences to epidemiologist and infectious diseases specialist, Professor Salim Abdool Karim.
The university said the honorary doctorate would be conferred on the last day of the DUT 2023 autumn graduation ceremony, hosted at the Olive Convention Centre in Durban, on May 31.
The 63-year-old health expert from Durban is the director of the Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in South Africa (Caprisa) and Caprisa professor for Global Health in the Department of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.
“DUT will acknowledge Professor Abdool Karim for his exceptional contributions in the global health environment and his outstanding service to humanity.”
The university said it would also host a celebratory gala dinner to honour Abdool Karim on May 31.
“As a distinguished health expert, Professor Abdool Karim has played a leading role in the HIV/Aids and the Covid-19 pandemics. His expertise has extensively contributed to the HIV/Aids prevention and treatment, as well as the Covid-19 response, thereby saving many lives.”
According to DUT, Abdool Karim attended the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s medical school in the late 1970s while he was simultaneously studying computer science and statistics at the University of South Africa.
In 1983, the university said he was awarded a Master's degree focusing on epidemiology at Columbia University in New York. He returned to the University of KwaZulu-Natal to complete his Master's degree in Public Health Medicine and his PhD.
“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.”
In addition Abdool Karim also:
- Serves as adjunct professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard University, Boston, adjunct professor of Medicine at Cornell University, New York, and pro vice-chancellor (research) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.
- He is the former Covid-19 advisory committee chairperson.
- He previously served as president of the South African Medical Research Council.
- In 2022, he was appointed as a special advisor on pandemics to the director general of the World Health Organization.