Shabir Ahmed Madhi (born 1966) is a South African physician who is professor of

vaccinology A vaccine is a biological Dosage form, preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease, infectious or cancer, malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verifie ...

and director of the

South African Medical Research Council The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) is a para-statal medical research organisation in South Africa. The current president is professor Glenda Gray. The South African Medical Research Council was established in 1969 to act as an indep ...

Respiratory and Meningeal Pathogens Research Unit at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( o ...

, and National Research Foundation/Department of Science and Technology Research Chair in Vaccine Preventable Diseases. In January 2021, he was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwateratand. He was executive director of South Africa's

National Institute for Communicable Diseases The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) is the national public health institute of South Africa, providing reference to microbiology, virology, epidemiology, surveillance and public health research to support the government's re ...

from 2011 to 2017, and has served on several

WHO Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...

committees in roles pertinent to vaccines and

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

. In 2018, he co-founded the African Leadership in Vaccinology Expertise (ALIVE) and was appointed Chair of South Africa's National Advisory Group on Immunization (NAGI). His research has included studies on the

pneumococcal conjugate vaccine Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is a pneumococcal vaccine and a conjugate vaccine used to protect infants, young children, and adults against disease caused by the bacterium ''Streptococcus pneumoniae'' (pneumococcus). It contains purified capsul ...

and

rotavirus vaccine Rotavirus vaccine is a vaccine used to protect against rotavirus infections, which are the leading cause of severe diarrhea among young children. The vaccines prevent 15–34% of severe diarrhea in the developing world and 37–96% of s ...

, and in pregnant women, the

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...

and

respiratory syncytial virus Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), also called human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) and human orthopneumovirus, is a common, contagious virus that causes infections of the respiratory tract. It is a negative-sense, single-stranded RNA virus. ...

vaccines. Since the global

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

in 2020, he has been leading

COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19). Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an e ...

trials in South Africa, including the first in Africa. In 2021 he stated that the first and foremost method of ending COVID-19 in South Africa is to implement a mass vaccination programme.

Early life and education

Madhi was born in 1966.Curriculum Vitae: Shabir Madhi
World Association for Infectious Diseases and Immunological Disorders, vi
www.waidid
His father was a teacher and mother a housewife. Initially aspiring to becoming an engineer, he opted to accept a bursary to study medicine and was initially reluctant to persist with his medical education. In 1990 he completed his undergraduate and postgraduate training at the

, Johannesburg, and six years later, became a fellow of the College of Paediatrics (FCPaeds (SA)). During this time, with encouragement from

Glenda Gray Glenda Elisabeth Gray MB BCh, FC Paeds, DSc (hc), is a South African physician, scientist and activist specializing in the care of children and in HIV medicine. In 2012, she was awarded South Africa's highest honour, the Order of Mapungubwe ...

, he applied for a post under professor Keith Klugman, to work on vaccines for pneumonia. In 1998 he received a master's degree in medicine (paediatrics). He gained his PhD in 2003.

Career

Madhi is professor of vaccinology and director of the South African Medical Research Council Respiratory and Meningeal Pathogens Research Unit at the

, and National Research Foundation/Department of Science and Technology Research Chair in Vaccine Preventable Diseases. These units have been rebranded as the MRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit (VIDA). He was executive director of South Africa's

from 2011 to 2017, and has served on several

committees in roles pertinent to vaccines and pneumonia. In 2018, after spending four years as deputy-chair of South Africa's National Advisory Group on Immunization (NAGI), he became its chairperson. In the same year he co-founded the African Leadership in Vaccinology Expertise (ALIVE), based at the University of the Witwatersrand, with the aim of expanding expertise in vaccinology in Africa. In January 2021, he became Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of the Witwateratand.

Pneumonia vaccine

His research has included studies on the

. This research led to the WHO recommendations on the delivery of this vaccine in low and middle-income countries.

Rotavirus vaccine

Madhi led the first study that showed that a

could significantly prevent severe diarrhoea during the first year of life in African babies. It was published in ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' in 2010. The paper provided one of the key pieces of evidence for the WHO recommendations of universal rotavirus vaccination.

Flu vaccine

In pregnant women, he studied the effectiveness of

and

vaccines. He led one of the largest studies evaluating the immune response to influenza vaccination in pregnant women. His work showed that the risk of

flu Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptom ...

halved in women given the flu vaccine. In addition, the risk to their newborns in the first 24 weeks of life was also reduced. The findings were presented at the 16th International Congress on Infectious Diseases and he reported that his "data support the recent WHO recommendation in terms of prioritizing pregnant women for influenza vaccination, not just for the protection of the mother, but protection of the infant as well". Later, he became involved in the clinical development of a vaccine against Group B streptococcus for pregnant women.

Tuberculosis

Other research has involved assessing the efficacy of various drug regimens to prevent

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

(TB) in people with HIV.

COVID-19

Since the global

in 2020, he has been leading

trials in South Africa, including the

Novavax COVID-19 vaccine The Novavax COVID-19 vaccine, sold under the brand names Nuvaxovid and Covovax, among others, is a subunit COVID-19 vaccine developed by Novavax and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). Full results from Nuvaxovid's p ...

and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, the first COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial in the continent of Africa. Asserting that South Africa's second wave in December 2020 is largely driven by mass gatherings and changing people's behaviour, rather than solely on the new variant, he has called for a wider coverage of COVID-19 vaccination. His co-authored publication on results of a large clinical trial of a COVID-19 vaccine suggest that the vaccine is safe and effective. In 2021 he made it clear that the first and foremost method of ending COVID-19 in South Africa is to implement a mass vaccination programme. On 1 January 2021 he tweeted "Ability of vaccines to impact on the pandemic is directly related to how soon you can get approx 50–60% of the population vaccinated."

Awards and honours

Since 2012, he has been considered an internationally recognised scientist with an A-rating by the South Africa's National Research Foundation. In 2014 he received the Platinum Medal, South African Medical Research Council's life-time award. In 2016 he received the European Developing Clinical Trial Partnership Scientific Award.

Selected publications

Madhi has authored more than 350 publications between 1997 and 2018, covering topics such as childhood

vaccines A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity The adaptive immune system, also known as the acquired immune system, is a subsystem of the immune system that is composed of specialized, systemic cells and pro ...

, severe infections in young children and vaccination in pregnancy.

Articles

* (Lead author) * * (Co-author) * (Co-author) * (Co-author)

References

External links

Publications on PubFacts
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Madhi, Shabir 1966 births Living people Members of the Academy of Science of South Africa Academic staff of the University of the Witwatersrand University of the Witwatersrand alumni Vaccinologists Vaccination advocates