Professor Helen Rees

Professor Helen Rees is founder and Executive Director of Wits RHI, the largest research Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand. Helen is a Personal Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Co-Director of Wits ALIVE (Wits African Leadership in Vaccinology Expertise).  Helen is a medical doctor by profession. She is an Honorary Professor in the Department of Clinical Research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine where she also had the honour of being the international Heath Clarke lecturer in global health.  She is an Honorary Fellow at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge University, UK. Helen holds a Doctor of Science (Medicine) honoris causa from the University of London and a Doctor of Laws honoris causa from Rhodes University.

Helen is internationally recognised as an award-winning global health practitioner who has dedicated her professional career to improving public health in Africa, with a focus on vaccine preventable diseases, HIV and sexual and reproductive health. Helen has served on and chaired many national and global scientific committees and boards. She is the Board chair of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority and Chairs the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) African Regional Technical Advisory Group on Immunization.  Helen chairs the MedAccess Board, a global not-for-profit organisation that uses innovative funding mechanisms to support access to neglected therapeutics and diagnostics required in Low Middle-Income Countries. Helen is recognised as a leader in global health security and has served on and chaired a number of WHO International Health Regulation (IHR) Emergency Committees.

She chairs the WHO’s IHR Emergency Committee on Polio and co-chairs the SAGE working group on Ebola Vaccines. She is a member of the newly formed African Centre for Disease Control (Africa CDC) Emergency Consultative Group and a member of the WHO African Regional Emergency Preparedness and Response Technical Advisory Group. Helen is a member of WHO’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards. Helen is a member of the South African National Advisory Group on Immunisation and co-chairs the Mpox Working group. Helen co-chairs South Africa’s Mpox Incident Management Team overseeing SA’s mpox response. She was a member of the WHO IHR Committee on Mpox responsible for issuing standing recommendations.  Helen has recently been appointed as co-chair of the newly established WHO Poxvirus Collaborating Centre under the recently released prioritized pathogen family report by the WHO R&D Blueprint.

Helen has won many awards over her career for her contribution to global health and to science. Including in 2001 being made an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contribution to global health and to the South African health sector.  In 2016 being awarded the South African National Order of the Baobab for her contribution to medical research and the health of women and children. In 2022 being made an Officer of the French National Order of Merit by President Macron for her contribution to global health and to the COVID-19 response. She also received the Platinum South African National Batho Pele Award for excellence for her contribution to the South African COVID-19 response.  In 2005 she received a lifetime award from Amanitare, a pan-African NGO, for her contribution to the health of African women and children, and in 2022 Helen was named a ‘standout voice’ in African public health by Harvard Public Health.