Quarraisha Abdool Karim is an infectious disease epidemiologist whose research focuses on HIV infections and prevention.

For more than 32 years, her research focused on protecting young women and girls from HIV infections through prevention and understanding of the factors of acquisition, as well as the mechanism of virus propagation using genetic sequencing.

Her clinical trial study for the Tenofovir gel CAPRISA 004, an anti-HIV vaginal topical gel, showed impactful results in reducing HIV infection incidence in women as well as HSV-2. This discovery was ranked among the top 10 scientific breakthroughs in 2010 by Science.