Salim Safurdeen Abdool Karim FRSSAf FRS is a South African Public Health Medicine Specialist, epidemiologist and infectious diseases specialist. He was involved in the CAPRISA 004 study. He is a father and is married to Quarraisha Abdool Karim whom he has worked with in research. He is a recipient of the TWAS Prize (2008), the most prestigious scientific award in Africa, the Kwame Nkrumah Continental Scientific Award, as well as the Reebok Human Rights Award, the Olusegun Obasanjo Prize, and other honors. Abdool Karim is a professor at both the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa and Columbia University in the United States. In 2020 he received jointly with his wife Quarraisha Abdool Karim the Canada Gairdner Global Health Award.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Karim was chosen to lead a 45-person Ministerial Advisory Committee. The committee was intended to guide the South African government’s response to the pandemic, and included several other medical experts.
Organisations
- Fellow of the College of Public Health Medicine, Colleges of Medicine South Africa
- fellow of the Academy of Science of South Africa
- fellow of the African Academy of Sciences
- fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology
- foreign associate of the United States Institute of Medicine
- fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa
- former President of the South African Medical Research Council
- fellow of The World Academy of Sciences
- member of the United States National Academy of Medicine
- fellow of the Royal Society