‘We are deeply honoured and humbled to be recipients of this prestigious award that recognises our and the CAPRISA team, partners and collaborators' contributions to science in service to humanity.’ Professors Salim S Abdool Karim and Quarraisha Abdool Karim. Picture: Supplied
PROFESSORS Quarraisha Abdool Karim and Salim S Abdool Karim have won the 2024 Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award "for illuminating key drivers of heterosexual HIV transmission; introducing life-saving approaches to prevent and treat HIV; and statesmanship in public health policy and advocacy“.
The Laske Foundation was established in 1945 by Mary and Albert Lasker, pioneering biomedical research advocates. The awards are regarded as the US's pre-eminent biomedical research prize.
The foundation is committed to inspiring robust and sustained support for biomedical research, fuelled by Mary Lasker’s call to action: “If you think research is expensive, try disease!”
The awards carry an honorarium of $250 000 for each category.
The husband-wife team, of Durban, and other recipients, will be presented at a gala ceremony in New York City on Friday.
Speaking on behalf of herself and her husband, Quarraisha Abdool Karim, who is in New York, said: "We are deeply honoured and humbled to be recipients of this prestigious award that recognises our and the CAPRISA team, partners and collaborators' contributions to science in service to humanity. It is a great day to celebrate African science and its contributions to the world."
In a statement released by the foundation, it said the couple's research insights and advocacy work have defined new life-saving preventive and treatment approaches for people with HIV/Aids.
"Growing up under apartheid in South Africa, the Abdool Karims gained a deep grasp of how societal inequities undermine health. While at Columbia University in the 1980s, they witnessed the staggering toll of HIV/Aids in New York and returned to South Africa to study the trajectory of the disease at home.
"Their pioneering research highlights the disproportionate impact of HIV on women and girls. They showed that use of an antiretroviral drug, tenofovir, reduced new infections by 39% in women who used it for two-and-a-half years. This ultimately led to the creation of a game-changing antiretroviral treatment called Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis – or PrEP – today a crucial element of global HIV prevention endorsed by the World Health Organization."
The statement added that the Abdool Karims defined approaches to better treat HIV and tuberculosis co-infection; after five years of use in South Africa, annual deaths decreased by over 50%.
"As vocal advocates for the vulnerable, the Abdool Karims advise medical, philanthropic, and government leaders on optimal public health strategies. Through their founding and leadership roles in CAPRISA (Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa), the Abdool Karims have helped train more than 600 South African HIV and TB investigators and established world-class research centers in Africa.
"They are powerful voices in the response to Covid and have tirelessly fought medical disinformation. The Abdool Karims have saved lives around the globe through their innovative research, evidence-based policy proposals, public education, and courage to speak truth to power."
The other recipients are:
- Zhijian “James” Chen (UT Southwestern Medical Center), who won the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award for the discovery of the cGAS enzyme that senses foreign and self DNA, solving the mystery of how DNA stimulates immune and inflammatory responses.
- Joel Habener (Massachusetts General Hospital), Lotte Bjerre Knudsen (Novo Nordisk), and Svetlana Mojsov (The Rockefeller University), who won the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award for the discovery and development of GLP-1-based drugs that have revolutionised the treatment of obesity.
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