Wits alumni scoop three awards at national 'Science Oscars'
- Wits Alumni Relations
Researchers in different institutions acknowledged at annual National Science and Technology Forum-South 32 Awards.
Three Wits alumni were announced as winners in their categories at the 24th NSTF-South32 Awards held on 21 July 2022.
The annual awards ceremony, widely regarded as the “Science Oscars”, recognises excellence and outstanding contributions to science, engineering and technology and innovation in South Africa. They are the largest and most sought-after national awards of their kind in the country.
Professor Shabir Madhi (MBBCh 1990, MMed 1999, PhD 2004) received a Lifetime Award for his leadership in research on vaccines against life-threatening diseases in Africa and globally, having been at the cutting edge of research in this area since 1997 and led the first two COVID-19 vaccine trials in Africa. 
Professor Madhi is the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor in Vaccinology at Wits and Director: South African Medical Research Council and the Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit as well as the co-director of African Leadership in Vaccinology Expertise at Wits. “When I saw the other finalists, I thought there was no way I could win,” he said during his acceptance speech. “I’ve been fortunate in that I’m supported by a team of 500 individuals in my research unit. It’s not an award about me, but the collective effort.”
He dedicated his award to his family who endured his absence throughout his career as well as the “millions of lives that could have been saved had we rolled out our COVID-19 vaccines earlier”.
Dr Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela (MM 2015), the chief executive officer of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority, won the NSTF Management Award for her pivotal role in establishing the Innovation Hub’s Biotech Incubator. She was instrumental in authorising COVID-19 diagnostic tests, vaccines and therapies to ensure the regulator was an enabler during the pandemic. The award is “testament to her drive and passion to ensure that the regulator is an enabler”. 
Dr Semete-Makokotlela holds a PhD in Biochemistry from North-West University and an MSc in management finance and investment from Wits Business School. She undertook postdoctoral research at the University of Nottingham in the UK and Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland. Her research focus was on TB drug delivery systems and she has published several scientific publications, review articles and book chapters. She serves on several thought leadership projects including the African Union Strategy for Health Research, the East Africa Community Bioeconomy Strategy and the WHO Expert Panel on scaling health innovations in Africa.
In her acceptance speech she said: “This is such an honour…My career has been characterised by very influential people, mentors who have walked with me through this journey…These are people who always expected hard work from me, who expected excellence from me because they saw the potential.
“I’ve always been blessed with the translation of research and development and have been blessed to have opportunities that were aligned to my aspirations,” she said.
Professor Simon Connell (BSc 1982, BSc Hons 1985, PhD 1988) was awarded the Innovation Award in a Corporate Organisation for being team leader in the Mining Positron Emission Tomography Research Group. The group developed an online sensor which can detect diamonds in kimberlite rocks.
Professor Connell is based at the Department of Mechanical Engineering Science, at the University of Johannesburg. His research interests include particle physics, nuclear physics, nuclear energy, materials science, quantum physics, high performance computing and applied (innovation) physics. He is one of the founding members of the South African participation in High Energy Physics at the ATLAS Experiment at CERN.
“We hope this innovation is going to make a wealthier Africa. It will be the start of transforming universities so that they become the African MITs and Harvards and so on,” he said.
- Two other Wits staff members also received honours: Professor Sehliselo Ndlovu won the Engineering Research Capacity Development Award and Professor Tamiru Abiye won the TW Kambule-NSTF Award, read full story.