Alan Christoffels Honoured at 2015 NRF Awards

The South African Minister of Science and Technology, Ms Naledi Pandor, presented University of the Western Cape (UWC) researchers with top honours at the 2015 National Research Foundation (NRF) Awards, held in Johannesburg in August 2015.

Professor Alan Christoffels, Director of the South African National Bioinformatics Institute (SANBI) at UWC, received the Hamilton Naki Special Award, recognizing his outstanding efforts to build a distinguished academic career and conduct world-class research in the face of considerable equity challenges.

The award is named after the self-taught Hamilton Naki, who, despite his limited conventional education, had a remarkable ability to grasp intricate anatomical structures and medical procedures, teaching medical students while working as an assistant in the laboratory of the late Dr Christiaan Barnard.

Professor Christoffels occupies a South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) Chair that focuses on public health genomics and addresses the needs of South African public health research while simultaneously addressing the country’s national imperative to enhance high-quality research and teaching in science and technology. He also heads up the intercontinental B3Africa biobanking initiative.