EDCTP Scientific Leadership Prizes recognise the outstanding research of scientists in sub-Saharan Africa and Europe on poverty-related diseases and their contributions to capacity-building.
This year, four awards were made, to honour men and women researchers from both Africa and Europe. The awards were presented by Professor Catherine Hankins (Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development (AIGHD), The Netherlands) and Professor Souleymane Mboup (Institut de Recherche en Santé, de Surveillance Epidémiologique et de Formations (IRESSEF), Senegal). The winners were:
Professor Tulio de Oliveira (Stellenbosch University, South Africa)
Tulio has played a key role in the use of genomic surveillance in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly for viruses. He established high-throughput genomics facilities in South Africa and, during the COVID-19 pandemic, set up a genomics surveillance network that identified the beta and omicron variants. His work has generated new insights into the transmission of viral infections, including HIV, informing the global policy response. He is a strong advocate for open science and capacity building, and leads the EDCTP3-funded GenPath Africa project, which is strengthening genomics surveillance capabilities in South Africa, Kenya and Mozambique.
Professor Katharina Kranzer (LMU University Hospital Munich, Germany, and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK)
Katharina helped to establish The Health Research Unit Zimbabwe (THRU-Zim, winner of the 2023 EDCTP Outstanding Research Team Prize) and was appointed THRU-Zim Director in 2024. A medical microbiologist with a special interest in TB, she has contributed to multiple EDCTP projects, leading the ERASE-TB project and the CORE trial within the TB-CAPT project. She co-directs CREATE doctoral training programme, offering advanced training to 50 UK and African PhD fellows, and also leads the EDCTP-funded SOFAR capacity-building network, training early-career researchers in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Zambia.
Dr Ahmed Abd El Wahed (Leipzig University, Germany)
Ahmed heads the laboratory at the Institute of Animal Hygiene and Veterinary Public Health, Leipzig University, Germany. He developed a mobile suitcase laboratory for rapid detection of multiple pathogens, which has been used in several African countries and forms part of a Rapid Response Mobile Laboratory for Disease Detection (RRMLD). He is coordinator of the African One Health Network for Disease Prevention (ADAPT) network, funded by German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), and the Horizon Europe Network for Rapid Diagnostics of Emergency Transboundary Infectious Diseases (PREPARE-TID).
Professor Marieke M van der Zalm (Stellenbosch University, South Africa)
Marieke was recognised for her pioneering work on paediatric TB and post-TB lung disease in children. A former EDCTP Career Development Fellow, she was awarded an EDCTP Senior Fellowship Plus in 2020 and supervises the work of a junior fellow in Mozambique. She has worked on several international TB trials and played a key role in raising global awareness of post-TB lung damage in older children and adolescents.
Article: Announcement by EDCTP3, 18 June, 2025
