Dr. Dheda received the award at the 2010 IUATLD meeting in Berlin for his contributions to the fields of diagnostics and drug-resistant tuberculosis.

The citation reads: "Dr. Dheda is Associate Professor of Respiratory Medicine and Director of the Lung Infection and Immunity Unit within the Division of Pulmonology in the Department of Medicine at the University of Cape Town. He also holds a faculty position at the Centre for Infectious Diseases and International Health at University College London as part of the UCL-UCT Diseases of Poverty Collaboration Initiative that aims to facilitate the training of African post-graduate students to improve global health.

"Dr. Dheda's research focuses mainly on poverty-related lung disease, including TB, HIV and pneumonia. He is particularly recognised for his expertise on drug-resistant TB and is considered one of the foremost experts in South Africa on TB drug-resistance, providing frequent advice and consultation nationally on drug-resistant cases. He is also a member of the South African National Drug-Resistant TB Advisory Board and several other local advisory committees in the Western Cape related to drug-resistant TB and serves on the UK MDR-TB National Advisory Network. Of particular note, Dr. Dheda has co-developed a programme offering training and clinical services related to drug-resistant TB at the two designated XDR-TB hospitals in the Northern and Western Cape Provinces of South Africa."

The results of his research were recently published in The Lancet, Annals of Internal Medicine, and the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, and addresses challenges in managing patients with XDR-TB, drug-resistant TB in health care workers, and enhancing the rapid diagnosis of TB.

This work was funded by the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership, National Institutes of Health, the South African Medical Research Council and the South African Department of Science and Technology. The award was presented to Dr. Dheda on behalf of the Union by Dr. Michael Kimerling of the Gates Foundation.