As an extension of its many interventions to strengthen the country’s health systems and its response to the disease burden and pandemics such as COVID-19, the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) has introduced four new Extramural Research Units (ERUs).

To commemorate this year’s Women’s Day, the SAMRC hosted the United States Secretary of State, Antony J. Blinken for a Women in Science event at the Pretoria Office.

Eminent scientist and director of the SAMRC /Wits Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit (VIDA), Prof Shabir Madhi, is the winner of this year’s NSTF-South32 Lifetime Award. The award recognises an outstanding achievement by an individual to science, engineering and technology (SET) and innovation in South Africa over a period of 15 years or more.

Naeemah Abrahams is the director of the women’s health research team at the South African Medical Research Council, a unit that she helped to set up in the late 1980s.

The Springboks honoured leading Sisonke COVID-19 trial principal investigators Professor Glenda Gray and Professor Linda-Gail Bekker for their commitment to fighting the pandemic and assisting South African Sport through the height of the crisis by including them in the traditional pre-match team photo in Cape Town on Friday.