The Society for Applied Anthropology has selected Professor Lenore Manderson as the recipient of its 2023 Bronislaw Malinowski Award. Manderson is a Distinguished Professor of Public Health and Medical Anthropology at the School of Public Health at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. She is also a long-time advisor to TDR.
The Malinowski Award is presented annually to “an outstanding social scientist in recognition of efforts to understand and serve the needs of the world's societies, and whose career has been devoted to solving human problems using the concepts and tools of social science,” according to the Society for Applied Anthropology.
Manderson’s current research interests are various complex social and health problems facing people in South Africa and beyond. In addition to continuing work on infectious diseases and other neglected diseases of poverty, she is working on two major projects: one on the complexity of informal caregiving for people living with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias in rural South Africa; and a second on community understandings of and responses to water, energy and food insecurity in urban South African environments.
Manderson has been affiliated with TDR for more than 30 years. She has mentored TDR grantees and served on numerous committees, including the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) and the Scientific Working Group on Vectors, Environment and Society. She is currently involved in the Social Innovation in Health Initiative (SIHI) as Chair of the external review group.
“I congratulate Professor Manderson on receiving this prestigious award,” said TDR Director John Reeder. “With her unique skillset and understanding of the environmental and social contexts of infectious diseases, her contribution to the scientific community has been immeasurable.”