Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - Sunday 15 June 2003
Brett Horner
Coovadia is the head of the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine's Centre for HIV/Aids in Durban.
Wits vice-chancellor Loyiso Non- gxa will confer a Doctor of Science degree on Coovadia for "distinguishing himself over many years as a leading paediatric immunologist, a leader in the struggle for a democra-tic South Africa, a national and international figure in the paediatric world and a world authority in the field of paediatric HIV/Aids".
In 1995, Coovadia was elected a fellow of the University of Natal. The following year he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Durban-Westville.
Coovadia received the Star of South Africa award from President Nelson Mandela in 1999 for his contribution to democracy and health.
He also received a silver medal from the Medical Research Council of SA for excellence in research.
Coovadia's international profile jumped in 2000 when he earned the Heroes in Medicine award in Toronto, Canada, as well as the International Association of Physicians in Aids award and the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights.
He was also elected a Foreign Member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in the US.
Coovadia was one of the key figures in the revival of the Natal Indian Congress in the 1970s, and his role in politics continued in the lead-up to the country's first democratic elections.
A prolific researcher, he has contributed more than 200 articles to medical journals worldwide.
He co-edited Paediatrics and Child Health, a book widely used by medi-cal students in Southern Africa.
As a result of his extensive work in the HIV/Aids field, his department has secured several grants that have helped to establish a powerful research team at the medical school.
Coovadia described the Wits award as "particularly meaningful".
"I have had other forms of recognition, but not to this extent. This is particularly important, as it not only comes from a South African university but from Wits," he said.
"In anyone's reckoning, it is a premier institution on the continent and it is a particular honour to be recognised by it."
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