People

Shabir A. Madhi, M.B.B.C.H., FCPaeds, Ph.D. Shabir Madhi is professor of vaccinology at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He also holds the positions of director of the South African Medical Research Council Respiratory and Meningeal Pathogens Research Unit and he is research chair in vaccine preventable diseases at the Department of Science and Technology at the National Research Foundation. He is the immediate past director of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (2011 to 2017), and he currently serves as the chair of the National Advisory Group on Immunization in South Africa. Author of more than 350 scientific publications, his research focus has been on epidemiology and clinical development of vaccines against pneumonia, diarrheal disease, and for maternal immunization. These studies have been pivotal to informing WHO and SAGE policy on the use of such vaccines in low-middle income countries. He has served as a temporary consultant/technical adviser to WHO in the field of pneumonia and vaccines. His scientific awards include European Society for Infectious Diseases Young Investigators Award (2006), as well as a number of national awards, including the 2009 National Science and Technology Forum: TW Kambule Award (2009), National Research Foundations President’s Award: Transformation of the Science Cohort (2010), Medical Research Council Lifetime Award platinum medal (2013), and the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trial Partnership Award for Scientific Leadership (2016). He is an elected member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (2012) and the Royal Society of South Africa (2016), and in 2017 he was elected as a fellow of the World Academy of Sciences.