Abdool Karim the current President of The World Academy of Sciences, is a leading South African infectious diseases epidemiologist whose seminal contributions spanning over three decades have shaped the global HIV prevention landscape, notably in prevention technologies for women. She demonstrated that ARVs prevent sexually transmitted HIV that laid the foundation for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP); and has provided insights in Africa and globally on the impact of Covid-19 on HIV and in the evaluation of Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (USA) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences, Royal Society of South Africa, Academy of Science of South Africa,  and the African Academy of Science. Her research contributions have been recognized nationally and internationally with over 30 honours including the 2014 TWAS-Lenovo Prize; the John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award; the 2020 Christophe Mérieux Prize; the 4th Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize for Medical Research and the 2024 Lasker-Bloomberg Award for Public Service. She is the Associate Scientific Director of CAPRISA; Professor in Clinical Epidemiology, Columbia University, and Pro-Vice Chancellor for African Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. She has over 300 peer reviewed publications and is the author and co-editor of several books including the 6th and 7th editions of the Oxford Textbook on Global Public Health and HIV in South Africa (Cambridge University Press. She is, among others,  Chair of the UNESCO International Decade of Science for Sustainable Development Advisory Committee, cochair of the PEPFAR Scientific Advisory Commitee, and UNAIDS Special Ambassador for Adolescents and HIV..