Litnet

Glenda Gray, MBBCH, a medical doctor and paediatrician and a board member of the National Research Foundation is the first female president of the Medical Research Council.

She is a professor of paediatrics in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand and a member of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute. She is the Co-PI of the NIH-funded HIV Vaccine Trials Network and heads their African expansion programme.

In 2002 she received the Nelson Mandela Health and Human Rights Award for pioneering work in the field of mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1. She is a member of the Academy of Science in South Africa, the African Academy of Science and The World Academy of Science (TWAS). She is a foreign associate of the USA National Academy of Medicine. Gray has been awarded the IAPAC Hero of Medicine award for work done in the field of HIV treatment in children and adults.

In 2009, James McIntyre and Gray received the N’Galy-Mann lectureship in recognition of their HIV research contribution in South Africa.  She has received two honorary doctorates in science and is an honorary doctor of law. She has also been admitted into the American Academy of Microbiology.

In 2013 she received the country’s highest honour, the Order of Mapungubwe, granted by the president of South Africa for achievements in the international arena which have served South Africa’s interests.