SAMRC Scientist wins a Forbes Woman Africa Award
Pretoria, South Africa | The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) would like to congratulate Prof Rabia Johnson, a Chief Specialist Scientist and Deputy Director at the SAMRC for scooping the 2023 Forbes Woman Africa Academic Excellence Award. The award was presented to her based on her research work conducted within the last 20 years.
The 8th Annual Forbes Leading Women in Africa summit and awards evening was hosted on the 8th of March 2023 in the Sunset Bet Arena, Pretoria, South Africa. It was an evening of glitz and glamour, where more than 1 000 pioneering women from 50 African countries came together to honour and applaud impactful work.
Some of the great women who attended the event were Dr. Naledi Pandor, Minister of International Relations and Corporation who delivered the opening address, the International GRAMMY award flautist Wouter Kellerman, The United Nations Deputy Secretary Amina Mohammed, The internationally acclaimed GRAMMY winner Singer and Songwriter of the popular Jerusalema song, Nomcebo Zikode, the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Jon Patria Scotland, and the South African soccer player Thembi Kgatlana, to name just a few.
The summit concluded with the annual Forbes Women Africa Awards 2023, which had six categories: Young Achiever Award, Technology and Innovation Award, Youth Icon award, Academic Excellence Award, Sports Award, Entertainer Award, Businesswomen Award and Lifetime achiever award.
Prof Rabia Johnson, who won the Academic Excellence category, said: “It was an honor and privilege to be selected amongst so many inspiring and incredible women. We have made great strides collaborating with the global network of science academics and strategic partnerships, however, much more remains to be done.” She continued by adding, “change must start with us; as women, we must ensure that we have a seat and voice around the table; only then can we make a difference in gender inequality”. For the last 20 years, Prof Johnson has been involved in training the next generation of female scientists to ensure that they become the best version of themselves.
Prof Johan Louw, the Senior Platform Director at the Centre and Platforms Office on behalf of The Biomedical Research and Innovation Platform (BRIP), said, “we are very honoured and proud to have Prof Johnson as part of the leadership team, she has not only demonstrated exceptional knowledge and skills in her field but has also shown a firm commitment to advancing scientific research, innovation, and capacity building of the next generation of scientists.”
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Email: Yolanda.Phakela@mrc.ac.za
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