Professors Shabir Madhi and Barry Schoub have become household names in SA since the Covid-19 pandemic struck. Now both have been honoured with top awards that recognise the impact of their work on society.
The Academy of Science of South Africa announced this week that the pair have received Science-for-Society Gold Medal awards for outstanding achievement. They were honoured at a virtual ceremony on Wednesday.
Speaking to Sunday Times Daily, Madhi said: “It’s a wonderful recognition of the contributions of a highly talented team that I have had the privilege of leading over the past 26 years. The team has and continues to undertake highly impactful translational research on epidemiology of vaccine preventable diseases and contributed to the clinical development of vaccines against the leading respiratory pathogens causing suffering and death, most of which unfortunately occur on the African continent.”
The team to which he refers is the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, also known as Vida.
Madhi is its director and dean of health sciences at Johannesburg’s Wits University.
Many will know Madhi from his role at the forefront of the fight against Covid-19.
He led the first two Covid-19 vaccine studies undertaken in Africa and has been involved in multiple epidemiological studies of the disease in SA.
Through various media, he is playing a crucial role in educating the public about the virus.
This invaluable work comes on the back of more than two decades fighting other diseases on the continent.
He has been conducting clinical and epidemiological research for 25 years, with a specific focus on the clinical and molecular epidemiology and prevention of pneumonia, meningitis, neonatal sepsis and diarrheal disease, and has co-authored more than 500 scientific manuscripts since 1997, mainly on vaccine-preventable diseases.
He has in the past led studies on the pneumococcal conjugate and rotavirus vaccines in Africa, which informed World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations on the use of these vaccines in low- and middle-income settings.
He has also led studies investigating the clinical development of influenza, Group B streptococcus and respiratory syncytial virus vaccines for pregnant women aimed at protection of mother-infant dyad.
Schoub is the chair of the ministerial advisory committee on Covid-19 vaccines, guiding the country’s vaccination programme.
Speaking to Sunday Times Daily this week, he said: “It is really a great honour to have the SA Academy of Science bestow its apex award on me. I have indeed enjoyed a long career in science and I hope that the contribution that I have made locally and internationally has benefited public health.”
He was “humbled and grateful” to be selected for “this very prestigious award” and added: “I am especially thankful to the academy for making this apex award, one which recognises the contributions that science does make to society. While it may be difficult to separate science from politics and finance, it is my conviction that if scientific endeavours are pursued bearing in mind that they serve the community, they can be both virtuous as well as utilitarian pursuits.”
Schoub was director of the National Institute of Virology and created the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in 2002.
According to the academy, “his exceptional track record of high-impact publications on viral vaccines have made critically important scientific contributions to the development of a novel poliovirus vaccine and a rotavirus vaccine, and played a key role in local manufacture of poliovirus vaccines in South Africa”.
He 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, which built the depth of expertise the country has in virology.
He has had a strong impact on viral diseases and vaccination in SA, and has guided the careers of many young virology scientists.
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