University of Cape Town: UCT VC to speak at Life Science Across the Globe seminar

The University of Cape Town’s (UCT) vice-chancellor, Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, will be one of five speakers at the re-launch of the Life Science Across the Globe (LSAG) as a monthly seminar series.

The Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IDM), based at UCT’s Faculty of Health Sciences, in partnership with Janelia, the research campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and six other leading research institutes around the world, launched the LSAG on 1 July 2020. This year the organisers have rebranded the offering from weekly to monthly sessions focused on topical, high-impact, globally relevant themes in life sciences, while providing a unique opportunity to learn about research in the context of a variety of cultures around the world.

Previous series have included presentations from IDM-affiliated researchers based at the Genetic Medicine of African Populations, the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative, the Molecular Mycobacteriology Research Unit, and Eh!woza.

2021 sessions

The first of this year’s sessions will take place on Wednesday, 5 May, under the theme “Inclusion of Underrepresented Populations in Science” with multiple speakers from different continents, and moderated discussions. Professor Phakeng will be addressing the audience together with Professor Ramakrishna Ramaswamy from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and Professor Sonajharia Minz, the vice-chancellor of Sido Kanhu Murmu University. Dr Freeman Hrabowski, the president of the University of Maryland, and investigator Dr Michael Summers, also from the University of Maryland, will speak at the session.