Prof Michèle Ramsay is a Professor of Human Genetics in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Wits, Director of the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience, and Chair of the Department of Science and Innovation National Research Foundation South African Research Chair Initiative (SARChI): Bioinformatics and Genomics of African Populations. She won the 2019/2020 NSTF-South32 Lifetime Achievement Award for pioneering genomic medicine approaches in Africa and leading the transcontinental study on factors that contribute to African diseases. “I feel that this is a great honour, not just for me, but for the wonderful groups of people I have worked with throughout my career. My inspiration comes from my students, postdocs and colleagues and I believe that a healthy and supportive work environment brings out the very best in everyone,” says Ramsay. “Putting the need for generating good quality data in Africa at the forefront, and especially the much needed population health and genetics data, is very close to my heart. We need more investment in exploring the central role of African genomes in disease risk, but also for their potential to discover novel treatment approaches that will benefit not only Africa, but the world. We are after all the cradle of humankind.”

Named after Nobel Laureate and Wits University graduate, Sydney Brenner, the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience (SBIMB) is a burgeoning multi-disciplinary research institute dedicated to investigating the molecular and genomic aetiology of diseases among African populations.

Quick fact: Molecular genetics is a sub-field of biology that addresses how differences in the structures or expression of DNA molecules manifests as variation among organisms. Molecular genetics utilises the laboratory tools of molecular biology to relate changes in the structure and sequence of human genes to functional changes in protein function, and ultimately to health and disease.