SAMRC Gold Medal Award

Professor Anna-Lise Williamson holds a Research Chair in Vaccinology at the University of Cape Town. She is internationally recognised for her work in vaccinology and the development of new vaccines as well as for her research in the field of human papillomavirus.  She led the MRC funded programme that that got two locally developed HIV vaccines into clinical trials and continues to work on novel HIV vaccines.

Professor Williamson’s present research is aimed at providing data to support HPV vaccine introduction in South Africa, as well as understanding the factors influencing infection and persistence of HPV. She has also developed a specific interest in the impact of HIV infection on HPV and has established her lab as an important world centre of expertise in the area.

She was elected as a Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa in 2004; Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa in 2005; and a Fellow of the University of Cape Town in 2009.

In 2010 Professor Williamson was awarded the Cancer Association of South Africa CANSA AG Oettlé Memorial Medal for work on the human papillomavirus which is the leading cause of cervical cancer.

For more information on the SAMRC Scientific Merit Awards please click here