Page 196 - SAMRC AnnualReport 2025-26

Her 2025 awards include:

› An inaugural winner of the SAMRC Scientific Merit
Award for Research Capacity Development and
Transformation
› Pan African Cancer Research Institute's (PACRI)
International Meeting Advancement Excellence
Award
› Medical Laboratory Sciences Excellence Award
› SAWISA Award for Public Engagement with
Research
Professor Alison September:
Global Impact

Professor Alison September, Professor of
Physiological Sciences at the University of Cape
Town (UCT), was a finalist in the Natural and
Engineering Sciences and Public Engagement with
Research categories at SAWISA 2025.
Her research concentrates on the genetics of
musculoskeletal injuries, particularly those involving
the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), and she is
an internationally respected leader in sports and Professor Alison September
exercise genomics.

She was recently appointed Deputy Director of
UCT's Health through Physical Activity, Lifestyle and
Sport (HPALS) Research Centre, which is ranked 25th
globally in sport science. Professor September's
achievements this year extend well beyond national
recognition. In a historic milestone, she is the only
African scientist elected to the prestigious U.S.
National Academy of Kinesiology (NAK) – joining
an elite group that includes Nobel laureates and
globally renowned scholars.

SAMRC EIP Beneficiary Wins
Prestigious NSTF/SAMRC
Clinician Scientist Award

The SAMRC proudly congratulated Professor
Shahida Moosa, a beneficiary under the SAMRC
Early Investigators Programme (EIP), on receiving
the prestigious NSTF/SAMRC Clinician Scientist
Award for 2025 widely regarded as the “Science
Oscars” of South Africa.

Professor Moosa, the Head of Medical Genetics at
Tygerberg Hospital and a Professor at Stellenbosch
University, was honoured for her pioneering Professor Shahida Moosa
Genomics for Health in Africa project – the first

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