Page 127 - SAMRC Annual Report 2024-2025

PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

Accelerator network and a tangible increase in Furthermore, in May 2024, the Unit Director launched
interest in drug discovery research on the continent. an inaugural podcast 'The Africa HealthTech Podcast'
By 2024, the network had already linked 8 African to spotlight important concepts and initiatives. The
countries, 21 research institutions, 32 members and Unit Director also delivered the First Plenary Lecture
an initial 4 flagship drug discovery projects focused at the 65th London International Youth Science
on infectious disease research. Forum, 22-27 Jul, London, UK, and participated in
The Conversation Africa's from Telemedicine to AI
Other strategic capacity building partnerships webinar as part of a panel of experts from across
that continued for 2024, were with the University the continent discussing AI health innovations in
of Ghana, KNUST (Kwame Nkrumah University of healthcare throughout Africa in Sept 2024.
Science and Technology), and Noguchi Memorial
Institute for Medical Research working on a three-
year malaria drug discovery project supported by
the Gates Foundation (May 2022- Apr 2025) and the
work with University of Limpopo and University of
Venda to establish TB drug discovery capacity (2022-
2025) supported by the SAMRC.

The unit also continued with the Global Health
Mentorship programme in partnership with BMGF
and CP+ Associates. This programme assigned
industry mentors to mid-career scientific staff
from H3D and the GC ADDA network who met
regularly with their mentees for coaching in the
following areas: the scientific process, scientific
communication, personal interactions, career
progression and scientific responsibility. This cohort
runs from April 2024 – May 2025, and includes 49
mentee/mentor pairs from 20 countries. A total of
5 PhD students and 17 post-doctoral fellows were
supervised and trained during 2024.

Navigating the Impact of US
Executive Orders on Funding
The unit has been affected by USAID funding
cuts with one of our projects on cost competitive
process chemistry optimisation to facilitate local
manufacturing of antiretrovirals being stopped.
This has had implications on the continuation of this
important work, retaining the team members and
ensuring the sustainability of the platform.

Research Translation

Through Arts and Science
The Unit was involved in an active campaign to
promote a positive story about health innovation
and the role of intellectual property (IP) in Africa,
illustrating the role of strategic partnerships between
sectors and across borders, and countering mis- and 5th H3D Symposium held in Livingston Zambia
disinformation. This was done through editorials, 21-24 May 2024.
blogs and articles:

SAMRC ANNUAL REPOR T 2024-25 125