Valerie Mizrahi

Valerie Mizrahi (born 1958) is a South African molecular biologist.

Career She went on to earn a BSc in chemistry and mathematics and then a PhD in chemistry at the University of Cape Town. From 1983 to 1986, she pursued post-doctoral studies at Pennsylvania State University. Mizrahi then worked in research and development for pharmaceutical company Smith, Kline & French. In 2011, she became director of the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine at the University of Cape Town. Mizrahi is director of a research unit of the South African Medical Research Council and leads the University of Cape Town branch of the Centre of Excellence in Biomedical TB Research. and a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology since 2009. She was named to the Order of Mapungubwe in 2007. From 2000 to 2010, she was an International Research Scholar of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; in 2012, she was named a Senior International Research Scholar for the Institute until 2017. Mizrahi was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2023. and a Foreign Associate of the United States of America's National Academy of Sciences in 2026.

Honours and awards 2000: L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science 2007: Order of Mapungubwe - Silver 2013: Christophe Mérieux Prize 2018: Harry Oppenheimer Fellowship Award 2023: American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow

Personal life Valerie has two daughters, and her father is the honorary president of the Johannesburg Sephardic Hebrew Congregation. She grew up speaking Judeo-Spanish at home.

Publications

Effects of Pyrazinamide on Fatty Acid Synthesis by Whole Mycobacterial Cells and Purified Fatty Acid Synthase I. Helena I. Boshoff, Valerie Mizrahi, Clifton E. Barry. Journal of Bacteriology, 2002 The impact of drug resistance on Mycobacterium tuberculosis physiology: what can we learn from rifampicin?. Anastasia Koch, Valerie Mizrahi, Digby F Warner. Emerging Microbes & Infections, 2014