Dylan Bettencourt
Stellenbosch University received some good news after a week plagued by racial attacks and rape accusations.
Two scientists from the university were selected for TIME magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people for 2022.
Professor Tulio de Oliveira and Dr Sikhulile Moyo were chosen for their work in genomics and epidemiology.
De Oliveira is a professor of bioinformatics who works for the School for Data Science and Computational Thinking, the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Moyo is a Stellenbosch University alumnus who obtained his PhD in medical virology in 2016.
Last November the two scientists led the team that discovered the Omicron variant of Covid-19, which then became the dominant variant of the virus globally.
“This acknowledgement by TIME magazine proves that Africa’s cutting-edge research has a global impact and further establishes De Oliveira and Moyo as international leaders in their field,” said Stellenbosch University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Wim de Villiers.
Brazilian-born De Oliveira has several accolades to his name, including the South African Medical Research Council gold medal.
He was also included in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s review list of top 10 technological breakthroughs of 2022.
Moyo is the laboratory director of the Botswana-Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership and a senior lecturer at the University of Botswana. He has played a major role in the country’s response to Covid-19 alongside his breakthrough studies around HIV.
Perhaps his biggest contribution has been studies regarding mother-to-child HIV transmission which have shown a reduction in passing on the virus to babies during birth.
The news of TIME magazine’s recognition comes as a major boost for Stellenbosch University, which has been facing racial accusations among students as well as a rape allegation.
A white student was filmed urinating on a black student’s belongings after breaking into his dorm room. Criminal charges have been laid and the suspect is currently being investigated.
Another racial incident was revealed two days later when a Law School dance was marred following an Indian student requesting a traditional song and being mocked for it.
Days after that another scandal emerged as a woman alleged that she was raped on campus. The victim has since laid charges with the police.
Image source: @News24
