Professor Robin Wood finalist for Lifetime Award, NSTF

Professor Robin Wood, Director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre, Emeritus Professor of Medicine and member of the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IDM), was recently selected as a finalist for the 2015/2016 The National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) Awards in the 'Lifetime Award' category (for an outstanding contribution to SET and innovation by an individual over a period of 15 years or more). The NSTF Awards, in partnership with South32, recognise outstanding contributions to science, engineering and technology (SET) and innovation by researchers and other SET-related professionals.

Professor Wood was one of the first physicians to treat and document the morbidity and mortality of South African patients living with HIV and AIDS. He became an early advocate of antiretroviral therapy, allying with civil society to plead in the constitutional court for wider access for therapy. His studies of HIV and TB led him to recognise the high levels of TB transmission and to model transmission probabilities in South African prisons, schools and transport. TB transmission subsequently became a research priority of the World Health Organisation.

Professor Wood currently leads an SAMRC UCT multidisciplinary research team which is studying the aerobiology of TB transmission.