Vaccinologists Keith Klugman and Shabir Madhi Awarded Sabin’s Prestigious Gold Medal; Infectious Diseases Epidemiologist Nicole Basta Receives Rising Star Award
Fueled by an early interest in science as a child in South Africa -- in part due to a physician father – Klugman holds both a medical as well as a science doctorate degree from Wits University and was the first student in the school’s history to obtain them simultaneously. He began his research career nearly five decades ago investigating the typhoid vaccine and has since distinguished himself as a formidable infectious diseases’ scientist. Klugman is widely known for his work on pneumonia, which still kills a child under five every 43 seconds, many in the world’s poorest countries. As the director of the pneumonia program at the Seattle-based Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Klugman orchestrates strategic initiatives aimed at reducing deaths from pneumonia, RSV, neonatal sepsis, and meningitis. He has authored hundreds of publications that have been cited over 50,000 times to date and has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine in the United States. Klugman is also a professor emeritus of global health at Atlanta’s Emory University.
- Klugman first met his then-graduate student Madhi at South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand (also known as Wits University), where Klugman established, and Madhi expanded, a now globally renowned infectious diseases research institute.
- He began his research career nearly five decades ago investigating the typhoid vaccine and has since distinguished himself as a formidable infectious diseases’ scientist.
- His scientific achievements aside, Klugman has long championed the need for the world’s poorest children to have equitable access to vaccines.
- Sabin’s Rising Star award was created in 2020 to encourage and recognize the next generation of vaccine and immunization leaders.