Quarraisha Karim

Quarraisha Abdool Karim is an infectious diseases epidemiologist and co-founder and Associate Scientific Director of CAPRISA. She is a professor in Clinical Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York and Pro-Vice Chancellor for African Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Early life and education Abdool Karim was born in Tongaat in South Africa in 1960. She attended Vishwaroop state-aided school, Victoria school, and Tongaat high school. She cites her grandmother and parents as some of her mentors, instilling in her a passion for knowledge. In 1981, she graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Durban-Westville. Abdool Karim then moved on to the University of Witwatersrand, gaining a bachelor of science honours degree in Biochemistry. For her master's degree, Abdool Karim moved to the United States, gaining her master's in Parasitology in 1988, from Columbia University. In 2000, she completed her PhD in Medicine from the University of Natal, in South Africa. the TWAS-Lenovo Prize from The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS); the ASSAf Science-for-Society Gold Medal; the South African Medical Research Council Gold Medal; the 2016 L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science award for Africa and the Arab States; the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Institute of Human Virology in the USA; and the 2018 HPTN Ward Cates Spirit Award. She received honorary doctoral degrees (Honoris Causa) from the University of Johannesburg (2017) and the University of Stellenbosch (2020) in South Africa. She is a Living Legend for the City of Durban – an honour bestowed by the city for citizens who have made an exemplary contribution to increase the profile of the city nationally and internationally. Abdool Karim was co-awarded the 2024 Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award, together with Salim Abdool Karim.

HIV Research

In the 1990s, South Africa was gripped by an HIV epidemic. During this time, Abdool Karim began her socio-behavioural studies in relation to HIV, in South Africa. She conducted population-based surveys, aiming to the understand the spread of the epidemic in women, as well as researching on additional factors such as gender, age, and migration. In 1992, Abdool Karim et al. published a paper, highlighting that women were more vulnerable to the HIV infection. The study also found a correlation between migration and HIV. This correlation was found to be particularly emphasized among men. During the 1990s, Abdool Karim conducted numerous studies and wrote a handful of papers, studying the infection and highlighting the different groups who were more at risk to the disease. Overall, the study demonstrated protection against the HIV infection, with a 39% reduction in infections. Additionally, at the XVIII International AIDS Conference, 2010, the results of their CAPRISA 004 study led to a standing ovation, an uncommon occurrence at a scientific meeting. In 2017, with other leaders from the project, Abdool Karim edited The CAPRISA Clinical Trials: HIV Treatment and Prevention.

Since this project, Abdool Karim has continued to research and publish writing about HIV/AIDS in South Africa. She published the book HIV/AIDS in South Africa with her husband and research collaborator Salim Abdool Karim in 2005, with the second edition published in 2010. In 2015, she co-edited the sixth edition of the Oxford Textbook of Global Public Health. In 2017 she was appointed by the executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) as the UNAIDS Special Ambassador for Adolescents and HIV.

Leadership and working for equality Outside of her research in HIV and AIDS, Abdool Karim has also worked to improve education and training for scientists in South Africa and served as an advocate for women in science. Through the Columbia University-Southern African Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Programme, Abdool Karim has worked to train over 600 scientists in the region since 1998.

She has also spoken and given interviews explaining the difficulties associated with being a woman in research as well as encouraging more young women to pursue the sciences.

2010: CAPRISA 004 Trials highlighted by Science as one of the Top 10 scientific breakthroughs of the year 2011: Olusegun Obasanjo Prize 2013: Order of Mapungubwe (Bronze) 2014: TWAS-Lenovo Science Prize 2014: SAMRC Scientific Merit Award (Gold) 2014: ASSAF Science-for-Society Award (Gold) 2015: eThekwini Living Legends Award 2016: L'Oreal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science 2020: Canada Gairdner Global Health Award 2020: Christophe Mérieux Prize 2020: Straits of Magellan Award 2022: VinFuture Prize 2024: Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service Award 2025: Fellow of the Royal Society 2025, Honorary Doctorate

In 2017, the BBC named Abdool Karim as one of the seven trailblazing women in science.

Personal life Quarraisha Abdool Karim is married to the South African epidemiologist, Salim Abdool Karim, whom she sometimes collaborates with on research. She has three children.

Abdool Karim owns a house in Durban.