Glenda Gray

Glenda Gray
Born	14 December 1962 Boksburg
Residence	South Africa
Nationality	South African
Fields	Medicine, Pediatrics, HIV
Institutions	University of the Witwatersrand South African Medical Research Council Columbia University
Alma mater	University of the Witwatersrand Colleges of Medicine of South Africa
Known for	HIV research, President of the South African Medical Research Council.[1]

Glenda Elisabeth Gray is a South African physician and scientist specializing in the care of children and in HIV medicine and was awarded South Africa's highest honor, the Order of Mapungubwe (Silver).^[2]

Life

Gray was born in Boksburg in 1962. Her father was a miner and her mother was a bookkeeper and they lived in a conservative poor area of South Africa. Her family was not conservative, but radical, and they integrated into the black community. She was the fifth of six children who nearly all gained degrees and three of them took higher degrees. Gray's father had been to college and he was ambitious for his children including Glenda who from the age of six wanted to be a doctor. She was active in the anti-apartheid movement where she campaigned to de-segregate South African hospitals. Gray reports having dead cats thrown on their lawn.^[3]

Early career

She studied at University of the Witwatersrand in 1980 where she studied for six years^[3] and where she later worked. Gray has three children and when they were younger she led a small group at their school who looked at the problems of AIDS. Gray tells the story that at one poorly attended meeting Nelson Mandela turned up. He had already identified Gray for her work and this was useful in raising the profile of the subject and obtaining state funding for HIV ant-viral drugs.^[3]

Career

She is a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa, a foreign associate of the United States Institute of Medicine, an A-rated National Research Foundation of South Africa scientist and a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.^[4][5] Her research expertise involves developing microbicides for sexually transmitted diseases and HIV vaccines.^[6] She is the executive director of the Pediatric HIV Research Unit (PHRU) based at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital and has three children.^[7] Professor Gray has published more than 200 scientific articles; she holds an honorary doctorate from Simon Fraser University awarded in 2012.^[8][9]

References

1. Webmaster. "Our President", South African MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL, Pretoria, 19 June 2014. Retrieved on 21 August 2014.
2. Government, South Africa. "Dr Glenda Gray - Order of Mapungubwe", THE PRESIDENCY REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, Pretoria, Unknown date ~2013. Retrieved on 21 August 2014.
3. Glenda Gray - the HIV Warrior, Mary Engel , 12 November 2014, FredHutch.org, Retrieved 17 May 2016
4. Woodward, Kristen. "Glenda Gray appointed new president of South African Medical Research Council", Fred Hutch HIV expert is first woman to lead nation’s premier medical-research organization, United States, March 2014. Retrieved on 21 August 2014.
5. ASMacademy. "Glenda E Gray", American Society for Microbiology, United States, 2012. Retrieved on 21 August 2014.
6. Dugmore, Heather. "Anatomy of Glenda Gray and the war against HIV", UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND JOHANNESBURG, Johannesburg, 17 January 2012. Retrieved on 21 August 2014.
7. PHRU. "GLENDA GRAY, MBBCH, FCPAED (SA)", MEET OUR RESEARCHERS, Johannesburg, Date unknown. Retrieved on 21 August 2014.
8. USA, Gov. "NCBI - Gray Glenda author search", PubMed, Baltimore, 21 August 2014.
9. Unknown. "SFU congratulates Dr. Glenda Gray", Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, 20 March 2014. Retrieved on 21 August 2014.