DR. MALEGAPURU MAKGOBA

Dr. Malegapuru William Mokgoba was born in Sikakoonie South Africa. While he grew up as a shepherd, through perseverence and hard work he has risen to become a molecular immunologist of international renown. In addition to being accredited in internal medicine with special interest in endrocrinology, he is a recognized teacher of the University of London and a distinguished Chair of Molecular Immunology at the University of Witswaterand where, from 1994 to 1996 he also served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic Affairs.

After graduating from High School with first class honours, Dr. Makgoba went on to earn his degree in Medicine from the University of Natal. He then obtained a Doctor of Philosophy at Oxford University in Human Immunogenetics. In 1980 he passed the United Kingdom prescribed Medical College of Physicians examinations and in 1990 and 1994 he was elected a Fellow both of the Royal College of Physicians of London and of the Royal Society of South Africa respectively. Between 1986 and 1988 Dr. Makgoba was a visiting associate scientist at the National Institute of Health and in 1990 a reader in molecular endrocrinology at the Royal Post Graduate Medical School at Hammersmith Hospital.

Currently, he is the President of the Medical Research Council for South Africa and Leader of the South African Aids Vaccine Initiative. Dr. Makgoba is the recipient of more than 30 career honours, distinctions and citations such as Outstanding Young South African Award. He has also co-authored two of the most cited papers in immunology, and has received from the United Kingdom Department of Health and the National Health Service both Distinction and Meritorious Awards. He has a permanent display in the British National Museum of Science and Industry in the Health Matters Gallery to inform and popularize state of the art science in the 20th Century. He has been elected Rosenfeld International Visiting Professor at Grimmel College in the United States, has been short listed for the Allen Payton Non-Fiction Award of 1998 and he has also received the Dr. G.E. Malerdais Award for outstanding contribution to education, science and industry. Dr. Makgoba has been awarded also numerous career research grants and fellowships by the Medical Research Council of both the U.K. and South Africa, by the British Heart Foundation, by the Royal Society and by the Welcome Trust of the United Kingdom.

Dr. Makgoba is regarded as a professional and public leader, both on the academic and on the scientific fronts, as evidenced by the various academic and management positions he has held. For example, he convened the 2000 Aids Conference that was held in Durban, and he is currently the President of the Medical Research Council of South Africa. The research contributions of Dr. Makgoba are in HLA and Cell Adhesion signalling. Among the discoveries to his credit we find, for example: 1) the role of Icam 1 in telymphocide recognition; 2) Icam 1 as a counter receptor for LSA one; and 3) circulating forms of Icam 1 as a basis for immuno-assays.

His current research interest lies in the area of HIV/Aids. Dr. Magoba's work is published in such Journals as Nature, Medicine, The Lancet, Immunology Today, Immunogenetics, Journal of Immunology, The European Journal of Immunology and Febs Letters. His scholarship encompasses, for example, three books, ten chapters, 80 scientific and 48 transformation related publications. In addition, he is the Editor of The African Renaissance: The New Struggle, a book that is being launched during this Canadian tour.

Dr. Makgoba is a man committed to professional and public service, both nationally and internationally. He has served or serves on many prestigious national and international bodies. For example, he is a member of the Boards of the International Aids Vaccine Initiative and the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development. A member of the World Health Organization United Nations Aids Vaccine Advisory Committee and the National Institute of Health Vaccine Institute, he is also a member of the Presidential Advisory Panel on HIV Aids and has served as an advisor to the European Commission Round Table Meeting.

This active and prolific scholar brings balance, harmony and meaning to his life through music, sports, public intellectualism and his three wonderful children. Dr. Makgoba has been described as a person whose "excitement about the scientific process, has been contagious with everyone within the laboratory". Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my profound honour and pleasure to present to you a man who, in the words of his peers, is "a first rate scientist with a social conscience": Dr. Malegapuru William Makgoba.

Introduction by Dr. Esmeralda Thornhill, Halifax, February 2001