Hoosen Coovadia, a South African pediatrician and research scientist, and international authority on HIV/AIDS, particularly mother-to-child transmission, has been named recipient of the 2013 Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Coovadia was honored by AAAS for "his unwavering belief, in the face of opposition from his government, that sound science should guide public policy and his devotion to the health of the most vulnerable."
The Lancet has called Coovadia "a giant of medicine in South Africa" and an academic colleague has said he is "like a Nelson Mandela in health." He is emeritus professor of pediatrics and child health at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, and remains active as director of the HIV Management, Maternal, Adolescent, and Child Health Unit in Durban, attached to the University of Witwatersrand..
In the 1970s, Coovadia, known as "Jerry," played a prominent role in the non-violent struggle against apartheid in South Africa. A native South African of Indian ancestry, he was a key figure in the rejuvenation of the Natal Indian Congress (founded by Mahatma Gandhi) and in the United Democratic Front [UDF]. His house was bombed during the political turbulence of the early 1990s. In the post-apartheid years, he held several democracy-building positions, including deputy chairperson of the Transitional National Development Trust and chairperson of the Commission on Maternal and Child Health Policy.
In the 1990s, he shifted his professional attention to the study of HIV/AIDS. His participation in international studies of AIDS brought him into conflict with the government of President Thabo Mbeki, which denied the widely accepted theory that the HIV virus was the cause of AIDS. The denial had tragic consequences for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS in South Africa. Dr. Coovadia found himself torn between loyalty to Mbeki, his longtime colleague in the fight against apartheid, and his loyalty to sound science. He chose the latter.
The disagreements came to a head in 2000 when Coovadia was elected chairperson of the 13th International Conference on AIDS in Durban. He refused demands by the South African health minister at the time, that he make a statement about the government's misguided views on AIDS.
Although the AIDS wars have died down in South Africa, Coovadia continues to be passionate about the plight of the less privileged. He has expressed outrage about the level of violence in the country, noting that the nation's constitution is violated "every second of every day" by "male domination over women and abuse of children."
In 1999, President Nelson Mandela honored Coovadia with the Star of South Africa for his contribution to democracy and health, and he has received a medal from the Medical Research Council for excellence in research. In 2000, he received the "Heroes in Medicine" award in Toronto, Canada; the International Association of Physicians in AIDS and Care Award; and the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights. He is a founding member of the Academy of Science of South Africa, which recognized his contributions to science by awarding him its Science for Society Gold Medal in 2004. He has published more than 350 journal articles and trained more than 40 postgraduate students.
The Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award is presented annually by AAAS to honor individual scientists and engineers or their organizations for exemplary actions that help foster scientific freedom and responsibility. The award recognizes outstanding efforts to protect the public's health, safety, or welfare; to focus public attention on potential impacts of science and technology; to establish new precedents in carrying out social responsibilities; or to defend the professional freedom of scientists and engineers. The award was established in 1980 and is approved by the AAAS Board of Directors.
The AAAS Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award will be bestowed upon Coovadia during the 180th AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago, Ill., 13 -17 February 2014. A ceremony and reception will be held in the Rouge Room of the Fairmont Chicago Hotel on Friday, 14 February at 6:15 p.m.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science as well as Science Translational Medicine and Science Signaling. AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes 261 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The non-profit AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education, and more. For the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert!, www.eurekalert.org, the premier science-news Web site, a service of AAAS.