Gita Ramjee, virologist
Gita Ramjee ‑ a Ugandan-South African scientist and researcher in HIV prevention – died of Covid-19 on 31 March 2020.
In 2018, she was awarded the ‘Outstanding Female Scientist’ award from the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership. She died in Umhlanga, Durban, South Africa, from COVID-19 related complications.
Gita Parekh was born on 8 April 1956 and grew up in Colonial Uganda before her family were driven into exile under Idi Amin in the 1970s. She attended high school in India before attending the University of Sunderland in England.
She graduated in 1980 with a BSc (Hons) in Chemistry and Physiology. She married a South African-Indian fellow student, Praveen Ramjee, and moved to Durban where she bega...