South African newspaper The Mail & Guardian, recently named Dr. Christina Thobakgale second runner up in the field of distinguished young women in the life sciences for 2013.

Dr. Thobakgale graduated with a PhD from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in 2012 and was a post-doctoral fellow at the Ragon Institute and at UKZN in 2011 to 2012.  She was recently appointed senior lecturer and researcher at the HIV Pathogenesis Programme at UKZN. For the past few years her research focused on understanding the cellular and viral factors that influence disease progression in HIV-infected infants.

Thobakgale has a keen interest in the development of young scientists and currently supervises a -laboratory technician and a master’s student.  She is looking forward to expanding the group as they contribute to finding solutions to the HIV and TB -epidemics.

Read more about Dr. Thobakgale at the Mail & Guardian.