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Dr. Mizrahi earned her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Cape Town in 1983. From 1983 until 1986, she did postdoctoral work at Pennsylvania State University. She subsequently held positions with the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Smith Kline & French Research & Development, the University of the Witwatersrand, and the South African Institute for Medical Research. She is professor at the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School; director of the Molecular Mycobacteriology Research Unit of the South African Medical Research Council, National Health Laboratory Service and University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; and codirector of the Centre of Excellence for Biomedical TB Research of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and National Research Foundation of South Africa. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa and a member of the Third World Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Science of South Africa. She has won the 2000 Unesco-L’Oréal For Women in Science prize (Africa Region), the 2006 DST Distinguished Woman Scientist Award, the 2006 Gold Medal of the South African Society for Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, and in 2007, she was awarded the Order of the Mapungubwe for contributions to biochemistry and molecular biology in South Africa. This is her second HHMI award.
RESEARCH ABSTRACT SUMMARY:
Valerie Mizrahi is studying the mechanisms of DNA metabolism, culturability, and resuscitation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the organism that causes human tuberculosis. Development of more effective tools for TB control require understanding the mechanisms underlying TB's remarkable ability to adapt to adverse conditions and persist in a dormant state from which it can reactivate to cause disease.
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Photo: David Rolls
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