Gita Ramjee

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Gita Ramjee (born Gita Parekh; born April 8, 1956 in Kampala , Uganda ; † March 31, 2020 near Durban , South Africa ) was a South African virologist . Most recently she was Chief Scientific Officer for HIV Prevention at the Aurum Institute in Johannesburg . She also taught as honorary professor in the Department of Epidemiology and public health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and other universities. Her research in the field of HIV prevention is recognized internationally.

Life

Gita Parekh was born in 1956 into a family of Indian origin in what would later become the Ugandan capital of Kampala. Under the dictatorship of Idi Amin , the family had to leave the country in the early 1970s due to the expulsion of the Asian population. She attended high school in India and studied chemistry and physiology at the University of Sunderland in the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1980 .

After completing her Bachelor's degree in 1980, she married a South African of Indian origin , with whom she first moved to the Transvaal in 1980 , but soon moved to the more liberal Durban in South Africa due to the prevailing apartheid , where she worked in pediatrics at the University of Natal Medical School . After the birth of two children Gita Ramjee took in 1988 a master's degree and doctorate at her university in 1994 about kidney disease in children for Ph.D .

After completing her dissertation, she began working for many years at the South African Medical Research Council, a semi-public research institution, where she was most recently director of the research area for HIV prevention until 2019. Under her leadership, her research area became the largest in the institution - with a research team of 350 people and an international reputation for HIV prevention and therapy. In view of an average of 20% HIV infections in the South African population and the above-average risk of South African women to become infected with HIV, since 1996 her work has focused, among other things, on microbicide research - these are and are intended to be used as gel or suppositories vaginally or rectally Protect against HIV infection without the consent or cooperation of the partner. Her work also included health education programs on HIV prevention with disadvantaged women and men in KwaZulu-Natal , one of the most HIV-infected regions in the country. She was internationally recognized for her fundamental research and clinical studies.

In 2020 Ramjee worked as Chief Scientific Officer for the health organization Aurum Institute, which also deals with HIV prevention and control, among other things.

Ramjee is the author of more than 200 peer-reviewed articles (as of 2017) and has been a member of national and international professional societies and committees, including the Academy of Sciences of South Africa and the South African National AIDS Council .

She died on March 31, 2020, a few days after returning from a conference in London, of complications related to a COVID-19 disease.

Awards

Publications (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Neil Genzlinger: Gita Ramjee, a Leading AIDS Researcher, Dies at 63 . In: The New York Times . April 3, 2020, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed April 3, 2020]).
  2. ^ Coronavirus: Top South African HIV scientist dies . In: BBC News . April 1, 2020 ( bbc.com [accessed April 2, 2020]).
  3. ↑ a b Catherine Offord: HIV Researcher Gita Ramjee Dies of Complications Tied to COVID-19. In: the-scientist.com. April 1, 2020, accessed on April 2, 2020 (English): "She was 64 years old."
  4. ↑ a b c Gita Ramjee | University of Washington - Department of Global Health. Retrieved April 2, 2020 .
  5. ↑ The Aurum Institute saddened by the death of Professor Gita Ramjee. Retrieved April 2, 2020 .
  6. ↑ a b c Profile of Gita Ramjee. In: researchgate.net. Retrieved April 2, 2020 .
  7. ↑ a b c d e f Alumni Profile Gita Ramjee - University of Sunderland. Retrieved April 2, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Linda Nordling: Interview: Gita Ramjee . In: The Guardian . May 8, 2007, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed April 2, 2020]).
  9. ^ Studies on the mechanisms of proteinuria in kidney diseases of childhood . (Dissertation). Durban 1994, OCLC 123703943 .
  10. ^ Gita Ramjee, Author at The European. In: The European. Retrieved April 2, 2020 (American English).
  11. ^ HIV and AIDS in South Africa. July 21, 2015, accessed April 2, 2020 .
  12. ↑ a b UNAIDS is deeply saddened by the death of pioneering HIV scientist and researcher Gita Ramjee. Retrieved April 2, 2020 .
  13. ↑ Covid-19 claims life of stellar SA medical scientist Prof Gita Ramjee. Accessed April 2, 2020 (en-ZA).
  14. ↑ a b SAMRC Scientific Merit Awards 2017 - Gold Award - Gita Ramjee. In: youtube.com. South African Medical Research Council, 2018, accessed April 2, 2020 .
  15. ↑ a b The Aurum Institute saddened by the death of Professor Gita Ramjee. Retrieved April 2, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Gita Ramjee | University of Washington - Department of Global Health. Retrieved April 2, 2020 .
  17. ↑ SAMRC Scientific Merit Awards. In: samrc.ac.za. Retrieved April 2, 2020 .
  18. ↑ EDCTP Prizes 2018. Retrieved April 2, 2020 (American English).
  19. ^ Professor Gita Ramjee receives prestigious scientific award. In: samrc.ac.za. South African Medical Research Counci, September 28, 2018, accessed April 2, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Ramjee, Gita
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Parekh, Gita (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African virologist and HIV researcher
DATE OF BIRTH April 8, 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH Kampala , Uganda
DATE OF DEATH March 31, 2020
Place of death near Durban