Karolinska Institutet Annual Prize Lecture Award 2012

Professor Ali Zumla, Professor of Infectious Diseases and International Health at UCL, has won the Annual Prize Lecture Award from the Karolinska Instituet, one of Europe’s largest and most prestigious medical universities.

Professor Zumla, who is BRC supported, plays an important role in global research collaborations and in networking, capacity development, and training in several African countries. His collaborations now span seven countries in Europe and 10 in sub-Saharan Africa, where he leads several multi-country translational research, clinical trials, and basic science research on tuberculosis, TB/HIV/AIDS and respiratory illnesses affecting adults and children.

His team’s research findings and expertise have contributed to the development of the World Health Organization’s policy guidelines on aspects of tuberculosis and on HIV and Mycobacterium tuberculosis co-infections.

Professor Zumla said: “I am absolutely delighted, and at the same time very humbled, by this prestigious award.

“This award is a reflection of the commitment, dedication and hard work of my research groups at UCLH, UCL and at overseas field sites in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Zambia where our ex-UCL PhD alumnus, Professor Peter Mwaba is leading our joint collaborative program on killer respiratory infectious diseases, focussed on TB and TB/HIV/AIDS co-infections.

“It is very heartening to see that that the high impact, health policy relevant deliverables achieved by our research groups have been rewarded by such a prestigious award”.
Professor Zumla will deliver the prize lecture ‘Questioning dogma in Medicine and Science – a lifetime’s perspective on infectious diseases’ on 8 November at Birkeaulan, Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge, Sweden.