scientists-from-south-africa

"We need to know a lot more about the world around us in terms of microbes – where they are in the natural environment and what threats they pose to us."

"This, we need to know more about – where are they? What are the long-term threats? Knowing such things prepares us for a more secure future."

"I hope to at least explore those opportunities and to get this process started."

"I see my role as one primarily of mentorship. To pass on my knowledge and experience to younger scientists – to share my passion for the fungi and for research with others that might build on what I have been privileged to do – not only via this award – but linked to my career as a scientist."

"This award has come to me in the latter part of my career. Maybe that is mostly the case for awards of this type that have huge prestige and likely would not go to early-career scientists."

"This is mostly because we have a powerful plant pathology community and that most plant diseases are caused by fungi."

""Good governance in our health-care system is “patchy"

""When I started working as a physician in South Africa, I clearly saw the consequences of inequality. The malnutrition and tuberculosis that I encountered among black patients occurred to a much lesser extent – or not at all – in the white population. Since then, my work has involved finding ways to understand and correct inequality.”"

""You cannot be born and raised in South Africa without seeing different forms of injustice every day. That is what sparked my interest in research and what still dominates my research today. My interest in equality issues also motivated the work I did in reproductive health and maternity care and especially my work related to gender and health.”"

"This is another example of inequality in South Africa. The private health care system accounts for about 50 per cent of annual health care spending in South Africa but serves only about 15 per cent of the population."

""We discovered that the competitive situation was not as good as it should be. In addition, there are no performance measures regarding health in South Africa, so people do not know the quality of the care they pay for. This is a major shortcoming, unlike the completely different situation in Sweden, where health results are public.”"

"Having just finished the tenth year of the project, we have investigated the extent to which we have reached our goal – and the answer is that we have done well. We have recruited over 200 African doctors, of which almost half have obtained degrees and work in academia and with research in Africa."

""Building capacity is a long-term investment though. We are at the stage where we try to ensure that everyone who has obtained a degree within the CARTA framework has a future in research and that the institutions where they work support research. So this very satisfying work continues.”"

""You need to see this as a 10-year project"."

""There’s some political leadership that’s needed, and then there are some technical interventions that are needed. It’s about having a plan and getting people around the table”"

""It must be possible to review it and to work out a more manageable process around procurement. And procurement is particularly important because it’s sort of what keeps things turning over. It’s also the space where vested interests can be exercised”"

""The argument from the government is that the NHI Act is simply setting in place the fund, that’s all it’s supposed to do. I understand that … and it’s a legitimate argument. The problem is that it doesn’t tell people what it means. It’s that kind of lack of stewardship, lack of communicating a vision.”"

""The way the South African health system is set up currently is that the department is responsible for stewarding the system, for making sure that the right legislation exists, the right checks and balances exist, and the right controls exist”"

""I think that at least in part, they haven’t [fulfilled that responsibility]. It’s a complex thing to do; I’m not suggesting it’s easy. But I don’t think they’ve had their eye on the right place”"

"What our report does acknowledge is that there are many good people in the health system who actually want to see improvements, who are committed to good leadership and management and governance"

""But I think we need leadership to kind of show the way and one of the first things that we felt was important was to revisit what our public values are, what are the social goals that we want to set for the health system, and can we all agree on that and move towards that? [We need] that kind of leadership and stewardship from the political and national government level.”"

""That collaboration also resulted in Professor Fonn agreeing to be appointed an honorary doctor at Sahlgrenska Academy in 2015. So we are well aware of the outstanding knowledge and commitment Professor Fonn possesses and look forward to developing our SDG3 efforts together with the rest of the academy and the University in both teaching and research”"

"Senamile Masango was more than a nuclear scientist; she was a beacon of hope and inspiration to countless young women aspiring to pursue careers in science and technology. Her passing is a profound loss not only to her family, friends, and colleagues but to the entire country. Her contributions to the National System of Innovation (NSI) will forever remain part of South Africa’s scientific and developmental legacy,"

"Prof. du Toit has over 230 publications and an h-index of 46 (Scopus). Prof. du Toit is an inventor on 9 granted patents and on several PCT applications filed internationally. Her latest research outputs have established her globally as a leader in nano-enabled and bioresponsive systems for bioactive delivery and tissue regeneration."

"But there is no proof that melanin protects black people from the coronavirus. There is also no scientific evidence that African blood composition prevents Africans from contracting the coronavirus."

"We have identified nine misconceptions doing the rounds on social media in Africa and set out to counter them. The purpose of debunking these myths is to provide people with trusted information."

"As an emerging female researcher, it is my goal to proudly represent Wits in the field of Pharmaceutical Sciences. In South Africa and Africa as a whole, there is an urgent need to enhance the drug delivery and tissue engineering market."

"When my teacher explained astronauts to us, it was fascinating to learn that there are people who can leave this dimension and go to the moon. When I learned that no one in Africa had ever traveled into space, that is when I fell in love with science. I wanted to create history and be the first to travel to space and was so hurt when Mark Shuttleworth beat me to it,"

"This was a life-changing experience for me as it is every scientist’s dream to go to CERN. The competition for spaces is too high and everyone from Professors to Doctors want to go there. To be there makes one hungry for knowledge and success and it remains one of my greatest achievements. I learned a lot there."

"I knew that it was not the end of the world and I had to pick myself up, accept my failure, and learn from it. My family also supported me and this helped me pull through."

"It was her first day at a new school. She left in the morning and never came back. What kept me going was my faith in God. He has greater plans for my life and I know that he can never give me what I cannot handle."

"The 25 years of freedom have not removed barriers to young women advancing in the science technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. No one believes in you and you constantly need to prove yourself first that you can do the job and belong here. It’s worse when you are black. What works for me is that I have a never-say-die spirit and want to break barriers."

"Young people need to be taught from a young age that there is no easy way in life and the road to success is never easy. There will always be obstacles but with determination and hard work, these can be overcome."

"The world needs fearless women like myself who can avail themselves and serve as mentors for young women because having a mentor early on can help them build confidence."

"My late father, Dr M J Masango, is one of them. Nine years after his passing I still live by his teachings. He grew up in the apartheid era in a poor family without a father, but that didn’t stop him from achieving his dreams."

"The biggest challenge in my career is my skin colour. If you look like me, no-one believes in you; you must prove that you know your job and that you can think! There are still very few black women scientists. This means women like me have to work twice as hard to prove their worth."

"Girls are discouraged at an early age from taking science subjects; it is the root cause of the lack of women in the nuclear space."

"Ms Masango's was a beacon of hope for many young people, especially women. Her passion for developing critical skills among the population and women in science in particular, will be sorely missed,"

"As the country's first black nuclear scientist, Masango's remarkable achievements paved the way for future generations of scientists and inspired countless young minds. Masango's tireless efforts to promote science education and empowerment, particularly among women and disadvantaged communities, will be deeply missed."

"Life in Antarctica is wonderful."

"Most people regard hierarchy in human societies as inevitable, a natural part of who we are. Yet this belief contradicts much of the 200,000-year history of Homo sapiens. In fact, our ancestors have for the most part been “fiercely egalitarian”, intolerant of any form of inequality. While hunter-gatherers accepted that people had different skills, abilities and attributes, they aggressively rejected efforts to institutionalise them into any form of hierarchy. So what happened to cause such a profound shift in the human psyche away from egalitarianism? The balance of archaeological, anthropological and genomic data suggests the answer lies in the agricultural revolution, which began roughly 10,000 years ago."

"As biomedical research continues to provide us with greater understanding and with powerful new tools, the scientific community has, I think, a dual responsibility. One is to push forward the frontiers to make medical advances possible, to understand what cancer is, to develop new ways of treating cancer, to prevent heart disease, and to develop ways of preventing, ultimately, disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and depression. But science also has a second responsibility to society, which is to point out what we need to be concerned about as a society and to bring to bear humane, balanced, and thoughtful ways of dealing with the advances that come from biomedical research. Scientists need to speak to these issues."