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ALAN PIFER AWARDS
FOR TWO UCT PROFESSORS
Professors Cathy Ward and Ambroise Wonkam recognised for
outstanding research with social impact.
The UCT Alan Pifer Award is given annually
by the Vice-Chancellor to recognise a
UCT researcher’s contributions to the
advancement and well-being of South
Africa’s underprivileged communities.
Ward’s research in the Department of
Psychology focuses on conflict resolution
between parents or caregivers and children.
Her work has led to the development
of Parenting for Lifelong Health, a suite
of open access, non-commercialised
parenting programmes to prevent violence
in low-resource settings.
With programmes for infants, toddlers,
young children and teenagers, parenting
for Lifelong Health has been endorsed by
the World Health Organisation (WHO) and
other international organisations.
“This is my small contribution to, hopefully,
a democratic South Africa and a world where
children can grow up safely,” Ward said.
Wonkam is an award-winning and worldrenowned geneticist recognised for his
work in sickle cell disease (SCD). He is also
director of Genetic Medicine of African
Populations (GeneMAP) at the Faculty of
Health Sciences (FHS).
The award gives credit to Wonkam’s
discovery of gene variants that are key for longterm survival in SCD in Africa. It’s also a nod
to his work describing novel variants in genes
relevant to congenital hearing impairment in
populations across the continent.
“Due to the modern human originating from
the continent, the next frontiers of genetic
medicine rest in African genetics variations,”
said Wonkam.
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