Wits and vaccines: The impact and potential of vaccines for the African region

Professors Shabir Madhi and Helen Rees will present the 16th Prestigious Research Lecture hosted by the Faculty of Health Sciences.

The first part of the lecture will be presented by Madhi, Professor of Vaccinology, who will discuss the work undertaken by the MRC Respiratory and Meningeal Pathogens Research Unit (RMPRU) at Wits over the past 21 years. His talk will include how the RMPRU has become a leading research unit in the field of immunisation of pregnant women. Madhi is the director of the PMPRU and holds the Department of Science and Technology/National Research Foundation South African Research Initiative Chair in Vaccine Preventable Disease.

Rees’ talk will focus on the impact of HPV vaccines. She will explore what else could be offered as part of an adolescent vaccine platform, and will present on-going work on the development of new vaccines for other sexually transmitted diseases including herpes simplex vaccines, gonorrhoea and HI. Rees is Executive Director of the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (Wits RHI) where she is also a Personal Professor in Obstetrics and Gynaecology and the Co-Director of the Wits African Local Initiative for Vaccinology Expertise (ALIVE).

The Prestigious Research Lecture concludes with an introduction to the new ‘flagship programme’ awarded to the University in 2016 by the South African Department of Science and Technology/National Research Foundation to strengthen African leadership in vaccinology research and advocacy.

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