Bavesh Kana

Professor Bavesh Kana is head of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) node of the DST/NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical TB Research, Johannesburg, South Africa, where he studies tuberculosis with a focus on identifying new drug targets and biomarkers to monitor treatment response and risk of disease recurrence. He obtained his PhD at Wits and has worked in several US institutions including the University of Pennsylvania, Texas A&M University, the Public Health Research Institute and Harvard Medical School. He has held grants from the NRF, the NHLS, the Fogarty International Centre, the US National Institutes of Health and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He is the recipient of the Friedel Sellschop Research Award, the South African MRC Career Development Award, and was part of the team that received the National Health Laboratory Service Innovation Award. Prof. Kana was also appointed as an Early Career Scientist of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (2012-2016); he is one of 26 scientists worldwide to receive this accolade. In 2012, he was selected as one of the 200 top young South Africans by the Mail and Guardian newspaper. More recently, Prof. Kana was awarded the first-time inventor’s award and first-time innovator’s award by Wits Enterprise for the creation of novel diagnostic reagents that are currently being marketed in over 30 countries. He has been admitted to the Academy of Science of South Africa and was also selected for the CEO Titan Award, which recognized his outstanding contribution to medical science in South Africa, the SADC region and the African continent.