Africa Health Research Institute faculty member and director at the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (SACEMA), Professor Frank Tanser, has been inaugurated as a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).

He was among 44 of the country’s leading scholars and scientists who were inaugurated as new members of the ASSAf at its annual awards ceremony on 23 October 2024.

Prof Tanser’s pivotal work over the past 25 years has provided substantial insights into the evolving and dynamic nature of the HIV epidemic and its key drivers, informing HIV prevention and treatment efforts in sub-Saharan Africa. His research into the population-level impacts of the antiretroviral therapy (ART) roll-out has led to wide-reaching and rapid changes to government policy on how ART programmes in South Africa are designed and implemented. In particular, a seminal study he published in one of the world’s leading scientific journals – Science – was the first to show that nurse-led and decentralised HIV programmes in rural areas could be successful in reducing HIV transmission at the population-level.

As the official academy of South Africa, ASSAf has a core function to honour the country’s most outstanding scholars by electing them to membership of the academy. ASSAf members are drawn from the full spectrum of disciplines. New members are elected each year by the full existing membership. Membership of the academy is a great honour, and is in recognition of scholarly achievement. Members are the core asset of the academy and give of their time and expertise voluntarily in the service of society. The 44 new ASSAf members bring the total membership of ASSAf to 730.

“I am so honoured and humbled to be inaugurated into this distinguished group,” Prof Tanser commented.

In addition to his position as AHRI faculty, Frank is a director at the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (SACEMA), a professor at the school for data science and computational thinking, and a director of population health innovation at the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI) at Stellenbosch University.