UKZN’s Andy Gray receives international award

Issued by University of KwaZulu-Natal
Johannesburg, Sep 15, 2020

UKZN’s Andy Gray won the annual Helen Clark-Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice (JoPPP) Award for Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice Research, together with Birna Trap, Denmark and Paul Newton, University of Oxford.

The trio is being presented with the award based on the scientific merit of their work, as well as the impact of their work on patients, decisions-makers and on governments.

"I am honoured to be included among a very distinguished set of previous and current award winners, each of whom has made significant contributions in this field," Gray said.

Since 2018, the annual Helen Clark JoPPP Award has recognised the talents of exceptional researchers who are making a significant contribution to the field of pharmaceutical policy and practice.

The award is named after Helen Clark, a previous Prime Minister of New Zealand and Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, to acknowledge her significant contribution in the field of health and global development. Clark is now co-chairing the independent panel appointed by the World Health Organisation to review its co-ordination of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Clark said: "My congratulations to all the award winners. It is heartening to see that their work is making a remarkable impact on the development of policies as well as on improving the health of patients and consumers."

Professor Zaheer-Ud-Din Babar, chair of the Judging Panel and Editor-in-Chief of the journal, said: "Many congratulations on well-deserved success. This year award winners have made a significant contribution to the advancement of pharmaceutical policy research."

Gray is a Senior Lecturer in the Division of Pharmacology, Discipline of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal. The Discipline is designated as a WHO Collaborating Centre on Pharmaceutical Policy and Evidence Based Practice. He is also Honorary Senior Scientist: Consultant Pharmacist for the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) and a Visiting Fellow in the Faculty of Pharmacy, Rhodes University, Makhanda (Grahamstown).

He is a Member of the WHO’s Expert Panel on Drug Policies and Management. Gray is a Fellow and Honorary Life Member of the Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa (PSSA) and a Fellow of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP).

Widely published, he has served as a reviewer for a number of international and local journals, is associate editor of the South African Pharmaceutical Journal, section editor of the Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice, and serves on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy, Health Systems and Reform and BMC Health Services Research. He has also been a member of the editorial committee of the South African Health Review.

Contact details: Andy Gray – 0834593422