SAMA congratulates Prof Shabir Madhi and Prof Barry Schoub

The South African Medical Association (SAMA) congratulates the annual recipients of Gold Medals for outstanding achievement in scientific thinking to the benefit of society by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), Prof Shabir Madhi and Prof Barry Schoub. The two pre-eminent scientists were bestowed with the honours at ASSAf’s annual awards ceremony held earlier this week.
 
Prof Madhi is the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and Director of the South African Medical Research Council Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit (Wits VIDA). Prof Madhi has most recently been at the forefront of the fight of COVID-19, and has led the first two COVID-19 vaccine studies undertaken in Africa. He has also been involved in multiple epidemiological studies on COVID-19 in South Africa and through various forms of media.
 
ASSAf recognised Prof Madhi’s immense contribution in educating the public about the virus. 
 
Prof Schoub was Director of the National Institute of Virology and created the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in 2002.  Prof Shoub was the founding Chair of the National Advisory Group on Immunisation of South Africa, served as initial Chair of the Polio Expert Committee, and led the scientific Board of the Poliomyelitis Research Foundation. Prof Schoub is currently the Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19 vaccines which is guiding South Africa’s vaccination programme.
 
SAMA says the recognition to the two professors is not only well deserved but also important because of the enormous value each of them have added to the fight against COVID-19.
 
[ENDS]