Biography
Shabir A. Madhi is Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He completed his undergraduate and postgraduate training at Wits, qualifying as a paediatrician in 1996 and obtaining his PhD in 2003.
Professor Madhi directs the South African Medical Research Council Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytical Research Unit (VIDA) and holds the DST/NRF South African Research Chair in Vaccine Preventable Diseases. He co-founded and co-directs the African Leadership Initiative for Vaccinology Expertise (ALIVE), previously served as Director of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, and sits on South Africa's National Advisory Group on Immunization. His clinical trials and epidemiological studies on vaccines against pneumococcus, rotavirus, influenza and COVID-19 have informed immunization policy in South Africa and internationally. He accepted the distinction of Fellow of the Liberia Academy of Sciences in July 2026, writing that, in the spirit of advancing collaboration between African scientists, it would be his pleasure to accept.
His expertise is particularly relevant to Liberia's priorities in immunization coverage, epidemic preparedness and the rebuilding of maternal and child-health services after years of conflict and epidemic shocks.