biology

Quarraisha Abdool Karim

Quarraisha Abdool Karim is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Quarraisha Abdool Karim rather than just read about it. In short: Quarraisha Abdool Karim is an infectious diseases epidemiologist and co-founder and Associate Scientific Director of CAPRISA. She is a professor in Clinical Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York and Pro-Vice Chancellor for African Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Key takeaways

Quarraisha Abdool Karim belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
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Reproduce the core statement of Quarraisha Abdool Karim from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Quarraisha Abdool Karim is an infectious diseases epidemiologist and co-founder and Associate Scientific Director of CAPRISA. She is a professor in Clinical Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York and Pro-Vice Chancellor for African Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Early life and education Abdool Karim was born in Tongaat in South Africa in 1960. She attended Vishwaroop state-aided school, Victoria school, and Tongaat high school. She cites her grandmother and parents as some of her mentors, instilling in her a passion for knowledge. In 1981, she graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Durban-Westville. Abdool Karim then moved on to the University of Witwatersrand, gaining a bachelor of science honours degree in Biochemistry. For her master's degree, Abdool Karim moved to the United States, gaining her master's in Parasitology in 1988, from Columbia University. In 2000, she completed her PhD in Medicine from the University of Natal, in South Africa.

Career Abdool Karim is the UNAIDS Special Ambassador for Adolescents and HIV and co-chairs the UNAIDS Advisory Group to the executive director. She is the Executive Group Member of the Steering Committees for the WHO COVID-19 Solidarity Therapeutics Trial and the WHO COVID-19 Solidarity Vaccines Trial. Abdool Karim co-chairs the United Nations 10-Sustainable Development Goal 10 Member Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM); is a member of the PEPFAR Scientific Advisory Board; and serves on the Board of Directors of Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (USA). Abdool Karim is Deputy-Chair of the WHO Alliance for Sexual and Reproductive Health; the Scientific Advisory Board Member of the Indlela: Behavioural Insights for Better Health; and Member of the CAPRISA Board of Control. Abdool Karim's research over the past 32 years has focused on preventing HIV infection in adolescent girls and young women. This includes the conduct of clinical trials from early phase, through proof of concept and implementation of new discoveries. Her landmark study, the tenofovir gel CAPRISA 004 trial, demonstrated for the first time that anti-retrovirals can prevent HIV infection. The study was highlighted by the journal Science as one of the top 10 scientific breakthroughs in 2010. Abdool Karim has over 200 peer-reviewed publications; edited several books, contributed several book chapters including co-editing the 6th and 7th edition of the Oxford Textbook on Global Public Health. She has played a central role in building the science base in southern Africa through the Columbia University – Southern African Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Programme that has trained over 600 scientists in southern Africa. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (USA); and Fellow of The World Academy of Science, Royal Society of South Africa, Academy of Science of South Africa and the African Academy of Science. She is a South African National Research Foundation A1 rated scientist. Abdool Karim's scientific contributions in highlighting the vulnerability of young women, the need for women-initiated technologies and integration of HIV prevention efforts into sexual reproductive health services has been recognised by more than 30 local and international prestigious awards including South Africa's highest honour, the Order of Mapungubwe, from the President of South Africa. In 2020 Abdool Karim received three prestigious awards for her scientific work in HIV prevention and women's health: The John Dirks Canada Gairdner Award for Global Health; the Christophe Mérieux Prize from the French Academies of Sciences; and the 500 years of the Straits of Magellan Award from the Chilean government. She is the 2021 John F.W. Herschel Medal recipient from the Royal Society of South Africa. She is the recipient of the African Union Kwame Nkrumah Award for Scientific Excellence; the TWAS-Lenovo Prize from The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS); the ASSAf Science-for-Society Gold Medal; the South African Medical Research Council Gold Medal; the 2016 L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science award for Africa and the Arab States; the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Institute of Human Virology in the USA; and the 2018 HPTN Ward Cates Spirit Award. She received honorary doctoral degrees (Honoris Causa) from the University of Johannesburg (2017) and the University of Stellenbosch (2020) in South Africa. She is a Living Legend for the City of Durban – an honour bestowed by the city for citizens who have made an exemplary contribution to increase the profile of the city nationally and internationally. Abdool Karim was co-awarded the 2024 Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award, together with Salim Abdool Karim.

HIV Research

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Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Quarraisha Abdool Karim

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Quarraisha Abdool Karim claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Quarraisha Abdool Karim before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Quarraisha Abdool Karim ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Quarraisha Abdool Karim

In research: Quarraisha Abdool Karim appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Quarraisha Abdool Karim in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Quarraisha Abdool Karim is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1960 births, 20th-century women scientists, 21st-century South African women scientists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Quarraisha Abdool Karim outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Quarraisha Abdool Karim in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Quarraisha Abdool Karim means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Quarraisha Abdool Karim in simple terms?

Why does Quarraisha Abdool Karim matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Quarraisha Abdool Karim?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Quarraisha Abdool Karim.