Shabir A. Madhi

Shabir Madhi is Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; and co-founder and co-Director of the African Leadership Initiative for Vaccinology Expertise (ALIVE). Professor Madhi completed his undergraduate and postgraduate training at the University of the Witwatersrand, qualifying as paediatrician in 1996 and obtaining his PhD in 2003. He currently also holds the positions of Director of the South African Medical Research Council Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytical Research Unit (VIDA), and a member of the National Advisory Group on Immunization in South Africa. His past appointments include being the Director of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa (2011-2017) and being South African Research Chair Department of Science and Technology, National Research Foundation, Vaccine Preventable Diseases (2008-2020). Shabir has co-authored over 750 scientific publications since 1997, and has an H-index of 103. His research has focused on the epidemiology, and clinical development of lifesaving vaccines against pneumonia and diarrheal disease. Over the past decade, he has focussed on vaccines being developed for immunization of pregnant women for the benefit of the women and their young infants. He led the first two COVID-19 vaccine studies undertaken in Africa, and was also involved in multiple clinical and serology epidemiology studies on COVID-19.