Salim S. Abdool Karim is a South African clinical infectious diseases epidemiologist widely recognized for scientific contributions and leadership in AIDS and Covid-19. He is Director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), Durban, and Professor of Global Health at Columbia University, New York. He is adjunct Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard University, adjunct Professor of Medicine at Cornell University and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He previously served as President of the South African Medical Research Council. He serves as Special Advisor (on pandemics) to the Director-General of the WHO. He is a member of the WHO Science Council and Vice-President of the International Science Council. He serves on the Boards of the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Global Health and Lancet HIV. His many awards include the Canada Gairdner Award, VinFuture Prize, Japan’s Hideyo Noguchi Prize and the African Union’s Kwame Nkrumah Prize, the highest award for research in Africa. He is member of the US National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Microbiology. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society.