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SU researcher joins the fight against COVID-19
Author: René-Jean van der Berg [Corporate Communication / Korporatiewe Kommunikasie]
Published: 31/03/2020

Stellenbosch University (SU) doctoral candidate, Caroline Pule, has joined the frontlines in the fight against the COVID-19 virus which is already infecting hundreds of thousands of people globally.

She recently joined as a volunteer for the CrowdFight COVID-19 initiative in South Africa. This is a global organisation enabling all-volunteer scientists from different countries to work together by helping where possible in their respective fields of expertise to support the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

“Noticing what this COVID-19 pandemic is doing, hit me very hard and I could not stop shedding tears of sadness. Due to my passion for global health, medical research and ensuring we have a disease-free nation, I got the urge to come forward and contribute in any way possible to mitigate the effects of COVID-19."

Caroline says that as a medical scientist with a background of working with one of the deadliest communicable diseases, Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (TB), and serving in several health and sciences organisations, it just made good sense to do something, even if was just by volunteering to help our country and the world to combat COVID-19.

On a normal day, Caroline wears many hats – or lab coats. Not only is she a researcher in Tuberculosis at the Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics within the SU's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, but she also shares her passion for science at schools through outreach programmes. She is the vice-chair of the Organisation for Women in Science for the Developing World, South African National Chapter (OWSD SANC). She is also the founder of the Caroline Pule Science and Literacy Foundation (CPSLF) that has a number of initiatives, including book donations, science clubs, a literacy centres campaign and a mentorship programme. 

About CrowdFight COVID-19

​The CrowdFight COVID-19 initiative aims to bring together a global team of researchers in various fields to help understand and alleviate the scientific and health demands of the
COVID-19 virus. This initiative would like to get more medical and health sciences professionals on board and calls on those interested to volunteer their time and skills by signing up at https://crowdfightcovid19.org/.