Dr Sikhulile Moyo named to TIME’s annual TIME100 list of the 100 most influential people in the world

TIME  has  named  Dr  Sikhulile  Moyo  to  the  2022 TIME100, its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Dr. Moyo is the Research Laboratory Director at the Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership (BHP), a health research and training collaboration established in 1996 between the Government of Botswana and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Dr. Moyo (at BHP) and Professor Tulio de Oliviera (at the Stellenbosch University and the University of KwaZulu-Natal) and their colleagues are jointly credited with the discovery of the B.1.1.529 SARS-CoV-2 variant, subsequently named Omicron by the World Health Organization. Omicron and its sub variants have become the dominant SARS-CoV-2 variants causing COVID-19 globally.

“This discovery demonstrates the potential to leverage existing local human and infrastructural  capacity  to  participate  in  cutting-edge  scientific  pursuits  for  the benefit  of  local,  regional,  and  global  scientific  public  health  advances,”  said  Dr Joseph Makhema, Chief Executive Officer of the BHP. 

“We regard this recognition of one of our own, as a vote of confidence in the quality of scientific expertise that reside in our country. It is a true demonstration that Botswana can be counted amongst a league of countries that have developed the requisite scientific knowledge and infrastructure that can help us and the world, to respond to current and future health challenges,” said Ms Grace Muzila, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health.

Dr. Moyo has served as Co-Scientific Scientist to the Botswana Presidential COVID-19 Task Force, working closely with the National Public Health Laboratory and Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW) on the COVID-19 response.

“It is gratifying to see the scientific contribution made by Dr. Moyo recognized in this manner,” said Dr. Roger Shapiro, Associate Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at HSPH and Chair of the Board of Directors of BHP. “He provided an early warning to the world about Omicron, and we all owe a debt to him and to his team

of dedicated scientists in Botswana.” Dr. Shahin Lockman (at HSPH, BHP and Brigham and Women’s Hospital), adds, “the early discovery of the Omicron variant by Dr. Moyo and colleagues is one example of the critical importance of sustained support of African scientists”. The TIME100 list, now in its nineteenth year, recognizes the impact, innovation, and achievement  of  the  world’s  most  influential  individuals.

[Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership]