[4] He was elected to be the Vice President for Outreach and Engagement of the International Science Council from 2021 to 2024 at the ISC General Assembly on 14 October 2021.
[8] Despite this setback, he obtained a student loan whilst at medical school to concurrently study computer science and statistics via correspondence at the University of South Africa.
[8] Under the mentorship of pediatrician Professor Jerry Coovadia, he conducted his first research project as a third-year medical student, leading to his first publication, a paper in the International Journal of Health Services.
[13] During 1988, he also studied health economics at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and methods of epidemic investigations at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, USA.
This initiated his life-long collaboration with Quarraisha Abdool Karim, his wife, beginning their first joint study in 1989, which was one of the earliest community-based HIV surveys undertaken in Africa.
In 1999, he obtained a PhD in medicine from the University of Natal, based on his research on the epidemiology of Hepatitis B Virus infection in South Africa.
[2] In 1992, he joined the SAMRC as a senior epidemiologist and was appointed Director of the MRC's Centre for Epidemiological Research in South Africa (CERSA) in 1993.
[9] During his tenure, he built CERSA up as the largest medical research organization in South Africa, enabling it to play a leading role in public health, both locally and globally.
[11] Professor Abdool Karim is widely recognized for his visionary and bold leadership in conceptualizing and creating research institutions in South Africa.
[9] In 2002, he secured a $15 million NIH grant to create the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA).
[18] The CAPRISA 004 tenofovir gel trial, which he co-led with Quarraisha Abdool Karim, provided the first evidence for the concept of antiretroviral pre-exposure prophylaxis against HIV infection.
[20] He also led the team that provided the empiric evidence for the “Cycle of HIV Transmission” where young girls are most often infected by men about 10 years older.
[28] His most highly cited journal article, jointly first-authored with Quarraisha Abdool Karim (Science 2010; 329: 1168–1174), exceeds 2000 citations.
[11] During his tenure as President of the SAMRC from 2012 to 2014, he led the turnaround of an 800-person organization in serious decline by redefining its strategic mission, enhancing organizational efficiencies, increasing its budget three-fold and raising its research impact and international stature.
[58][59] In 2024 Professor Karim was awarded The Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize and Lecture for his scientific leadership, policy advice, epidemiological analyses, and articulate public education.
He played a key role in creating and publishing a community newspaper, called “Ukusa”, that rallied support against the atrocities of racial oppression.
[6] As an anti-apartheid activist and community organizer, he participated in the 1983 Mitchells Plain, Cape Town launch of the United Democratic Front, a turning point in the struggle against apartheid through a new broad-based non-racial liberation movement.
[61] During the difficult years of AIDS denial in South Africa, he openly challenged Minister of Health Tshabalala-Msimang and President Thabo Mbeki and went further to secure antiretroviral drugs and funding to create one of the largest AIDS treatment programmes at a time when antiretroviral treatment was against government policy.
In front-page newspaper articles, he called on the country's National Director of Public Prosecutions to step down for his failure to act against corruption.
[63] During the Covid-19 lockdown, he took a strong stand against the abuses perpetrated by the South African military and against the corruption involved in the purchase of personal protective equipment during the early stages of the pandemic.
[64] He serves on the advisory board of “Defend our Democracy”, a South African organization fighting corruption and promoting good governance.