Professor Helen Rees is an internationally acclaimed global health leader whose career has advanced health across Africa in vaccine-preventable diseases, HIV, reproductive health, and regulatory science. After training as a doctor in London, she worked in Zimbabwe and South Africa, where she was active in the anti-apartheid struggle. In 1994, she founded Wits RHI at the University of the Witwatersrand, now one of Africa’s largest health research institutions. Prof Rees is also the founder and Co-Director of the Wits African Leadership in Vaccinology Expertise; a Personal Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand; an Honorary Professor in the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; an Honorary Fellow at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge University and holds a Doctor of Science (Medicine) honoris causa from the University of London and a Doctor of Law honoris causa from Rhodes University.

Over three decades Prof Rees has dedicated herself to closing the gap between what science knows and what public health does — using research, policy engagement, and science diplomacy to protect the health of the most vulnerable people in Africa and beyond. As the Executive Director of Wits RHI at the University of the Witwatersrand, Prof Rees has shaped national and international health policy and research. Prof Rees has made exceptional and sustained contributions to public health at national and global levels. Her work has directly influenced healthcare policies and programmes that have improved health outcomes for millions of people worldwide. Her research and leadership have had a profound impact on HIV prevention, immunisation programmes, maternal and child health, and the development and implementation of evidence-based health policies. Under her leadership, Wits RHI has driven the development, evaluation, and large-scale implementation of medicines, vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and prevention technologies that have shaped national, regional and global policy. Prof Rees is recognised for her outstanding international standing and scientific leadership. Her extensive engagement in international health governance includes service on more than 350 regional and global advisory groups, over 150 South African ministerial advisory boards and expert committees contributing to national and global responses to major public health challenges such as the Ebola outbreak, polio, COVID-19 and mpox.

She has served as Chair of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (SAGE) and was a founding member and Scientific Advisory Committee Chair of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). Prof Rees was Chair of the Board of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA), where she steered its transformation into a modern, post-apartheid regulatory institution aligned with South Africa’s constitutional health imperatives. Currently Prof Rees Chairs the WHO African Regional Immunisation Technical Advisory Group (RITAG) and is Board Chair of MedAccess and International Vaccine Institute (IVI), the latter two being not for profit global entities aimed at increasing access to vaccines and to health products for LMICs. Her substantial scholarly contribution is reflected in more than 280 peer-reviewed academic publications and a research portfolio that has shaped both scientific knowledge and public health practice. Prof Rees has received many awards and accolades for her contributions to global health and science, including South Africa’s National Order of the Baobab, the Platinum Batho Pele Award, and the NSTF Lifetime Achievement Award. She was made an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in 2001 by Queen Elizabeth II, and an Officer of the French National Order of Merit in 2022 by President Macron for her contribution to global health and the COVID-19 response. In 2025, she received the prestigious Dr Lee Jong Wook Memorial Prize for Public Health from the WHO – one of the highest global honours in the field of public health. Prof Rees has dedicated much of her career to strengthening African scientific leadership, research excellence, and regulatory capacity. Over three decades, she has established and supported programmes that have trained researchers, clinicians, policymakers, regulators, and public health leaders across the continent, creating a lasting legacy of capacity development that continues to shape health systems in Africa today.