Quarraisha Abdool Karim
Quarraisha Abdool Karim (born march 28,1960) is a South African 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. Her main research interests are in understanding the evolving HIV epidemic in South Africa; factors influencing acquisition of HIV infection in adolescent girls; and sustainable strategies to introduce antiretroviral therapy in resource-constrained settings. She holds Professorships in Clinical Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, USA and in Public Health at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.
Quotes
[edit]- As far as women go, there's a lot more we still need to do,"
- The vulnerability of young women is very much tied into gender power differences in society.
- For most of my life I thought about science and its application to leaving people better off, so I wanted to be a scientist and do something that would help people.
- Women continue to inspire me to persist with my scientific endeavors. While some progress has been made, much more remains to be done to ensure a non-sexist and just society.
- When we come together with unity of purpose, we can achieve great things.” Karim speaking at the World science forum
- When solutions are not shared fairly or equitably, the pathogen thrives, as we witnessed during COVID-19, and another example where sharing information openly as South African scientists did during the emergence of the Omicron variant resulted in a travel ban by several countries in the Global North for the entire southern African region. Karim speaking on examples where open science should be rethought while delivering a lecture titled "Trust in science".
- we have to balance mission-oriented investments with curiosity investments, because the discoveries from curiosity research enable the innovation for mission-driven science. Undertaking biomedical research is high-risk, and more often than not does not produce the desired outcomes. However, we learn and understand the phenomenon better and move forward incrementally. This persistence and perseverance is a hallmark of scientific endeavours together with vigorous debates and discussions of findings.” Karim speaking on the importance of ongoing investments in science
- And it’s not a token affirmative action process, but creating the space for women’s voices to be heard, women to contribute in the context of complex challenges that face us is no longer a luxury – we need all voices heard and opportunities created for all to contribute.” Karim speaking on the need for increased involvement of women in STEM
- Environments can be created where women feel they belong, and we can see from the 20 years of CAPRISA’s existence how creating a supportive space for women has enabled a lot of women to thrive, to make their contributions and be constantly making cutting-edge contributions. So this is a concrete example. It’s not just rhetoric; it's not idealism that we can make it happen, and we need to illustrate that more and more because that means inclusivity at all levels, which bodes well for human security and planetary health.” **Karim speaking all women inclusivity in Science
- As far as women go, there's a lot more we still need to do.
- We focused on developing and testing technologies that empowered women,”[6]
- We can’t think of problems in the global south as just problems for the global south."[7]
