Wits women scientists shine
- By Vivienne Rowland
Three women Witsies won accolades at the Women in Science Awards during Women’s Month in August 2011.
Associate Professor in the physiotherapy department in the School of Therapeutic Sciences, Professor Aimee Stewart (MSc (Med) 1992, PhD (Med) 2003) won the Distinguished Women Scientist: Social Sciences and Humanities category.
The Director of the Wits/National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) Malaria Entomology Research Unit, and the South African Chair in Medical Entomology and Vector Control, Professor Maureen Coetzee (MSc 1982, PhD (Science) 1987) was the first runner-up in the Distinguished Women Scientist: Life, Natural and Engineering Sciences category.
Professor Lizette Koekemoer (PhD (Science) 1991) was announced the second runner-up in the Distinguished Young Women Scientist: Life, Natural and Engineering Sciences category.
The awards, held under the auspices of the Department of Science and Technology and presented by Minister Naledi Pandor, aim to promote women’s access and excellence in research and innovation careers, to profile women scientists and researchers as role models, and to encourage and reward younger women emerging in these careers.
Stewart’s PhD research focused on the role of the family in supporting lifestyle changes in chronically ill patients. A National Research Foundation (NRF) C3-rated researcher, she leads the NRF research niche area on the management of chronic disease and disability, including HIV/AIDS. Internationally eminent, Stewart served as the Africa representative on the International Scientific Committee of the World Confederation of Physical Therapy. She regularly advises the Kigali Health Institute of Rwanda. Much of her work in Kigali has focused on the development, establishment and review of its four-year physiotherapy degree programme.
A National Research Foundation B-rated scientist, Coetzee has been involved in mosquito systematics (organism classification) for more than 30 years. She has used genetic principles to discover 10 new species of Anopheles mosquito. Most recently, she and her group demonstrated that Malawi’s Anopheles funestus is in fact two separate species, a finding published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Coetzee is a member of scientific advisory committees for the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation projects, which aim to eliminate malaria globally. She won the 2009 National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) Award for her outstanding contribution to science over the past 10 years.
Koekemoer – whose Wits PhD was upgraded from an MSc – researches the biology and genetics of mosquito vectors (disease-transmitting organisms) of malaria in Africa. A National Research Foundation C-rated scientist, she heads the Vector Control Reference Unit in the National Institute for Communicable Diseases. She is an elected Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society (London) and in 2009 won the Southern Africa Association for the Advancement of Science (S2A3) British Association Silver Medal for scientific achievement of a scientist under 40 years.