Global HIV Epidemiologist Salim Abdool Karim Wins Royal Society’s Coveted Michael Faraday Prize

The Royal Society announced that its Michael Faraday Prize and Lecture is awarded to Professor Salim Abdool Karim, MBChB, FFPHM, PhD, CAPRISA Professor for Global Health in the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. He is also Director of the Centre for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA). The honor was bestowed for Abdool Karim’s  scientific leadership, policy advice, epidemiological analyses, and articulate public education, while actively countering disinformation in Africa, particularly South Africa, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I am deeply honored to receive the Michael Faraday Prize. As we witness a rise in disinformation and attacks on science that have reached new heights during the Covid-19 pandemic, effective and transparent communication of science has become even more important,” said Abdool Karim.

The Royal Society is a fellowship of many of the world’s most distinguished scientists drawn from all areas of science, engineering, and medicine. Since its foundation in 1660, the Society’s fundamental purpose is to recognize, promote, and support excellence in science and to encourage the development and use of science for the benefit of humanity.

Abdool Karim is among 25 Royal Society Medal and Award winners this year. Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist, Sir Gregory Paul Winter CBE FRS FMedSci, best known for his work on monoclonal antibodies, was this year’s recipient for the Royal Society’s Copley Medal. Previous recipients have included Louis Pasteur, Dorothy Hodgkin, Albert Einstein, and Charles Darwin. 

A clinical infectious diseases epidemiologist, Salim Abdool Karim is widely recognized for his research contributions in HIV prevention and treatment. He is also Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa and Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

His contributions to microbicides for HIV prevention span two decades and culminated in the CAPRISA 004 tenofovir gel trial which provided proof-of-concept that antiretroviral drugs can prevent sexually transmitted HIV infection and herpes simplex virus type 2 in women. He is co-inventor on patents that have been used in several HIV vaccine candidates and his clinical research on TB-HIV treatment has shaped international guidelines on the clinical management of co-infected patients.

He is Chair of the UNAIDS Scientific Expert Panel, Chair of the WHO's HIV and Hepatitis Scientific and Technical Advisory Group and a member of the WHO HIV-TB Task Force. He is an elected Fellow of the World Academy of Sciences, the African Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Science in South Africa, the Royal Society of South Africa, and the American Academy of Microbiology. He is a Foreign Associate Member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine.

Abdool Karim serves on the Boards of the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet-Global Health, Lancet-HIV and the Journal of AIDS.