At the 19th INTEREST Conference, Patane Shilabye from South Africa was honored with the prestigious Joep Lange Award, recognizing the highest-scoring scientific abstract submitted by an African early-career researcher.
PATANE SHILABYE
When Patane Shilabye was busy completing her master’s degree in medical sciences, she realized she wanted to study “something very impactful” next. And what could be more impactful in her home country of South Africa than homing in on HIV?
Combining it with assessing cardiovascular disease risk meant she would contribute to the fight against two of South Africa’s biggest health challenges. Out of a population of 63 million, the country has 8 million or so people living with HIV, and cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death after HIV.
Presenting a study showing that antiretroviral therapy is associated with increased arterial stiffness over time, Patane bagged the Joep Lange award for one of the highest-scoring scientific abstracts submitted to the 19th INTEREST conference by an African early-career researcher. She determined this by using measurements of pulse-wave velocity – the speed at which the wave created by each heartbeat travels along the artery walls – from the community living in the village of Elandsdoorn in her home province of Limpopo.
“The reason we decided to use pulse-wave velocity is because it is a well-established surrogate marker of cardiovascular disease risk in developed countries, particularly in high-income settings,” Patane told INTEREST attendees in Windhoek, Namibia. “There are other biomarkers of cardiovascular disease, but sometimes they are not as reliable, so we decided to go with the one that is considered the gold standard.”
Gardening provides peace
Patane is studying towards a PhD jointly supervised by academics from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and Utrecht University in the Netherlands. On top of that, she is also completing a master’s degree in epidemiology – a requirement from Utrecht University. If all goes well, she will defend her thesis in June 2026.
In primary school, Patane was interested in becoming a social worker. “But I had this high school teacher, Mr Boya, who was teaching life sciences to the point I fell in love with it and wanted to learn more about how the body works,” she says with her characteristic bubbliness.
Patane then considered medicine. But after researching what a degree in medical sciences entails, she enrolled for a bachelor’s degree in this field at the University of Limpopo. Besides, she didn’t like working directly with blood, Patane soon realized. This was followed by a master’s degree in the same field, before she commenced her PhD in physiology and epidemiology.
“One of the initial challenges was transitioning into epidemiology,” Patane says. “I had to build my capacity in advanced analysis, statistical reasoning, and population-level thinking – skills which were entirely new to me.”
That’s where her MSc in epidemiology comes in helpful, but balancing both degrees at the same time is “really intense and demanding”, Patane sighs. “But it taught me to multitask, manage time under pressure, and stay organized.”
Gardening helps take her mind off things. Currently, Patane has cherry pips in her fridge to simulate the winter conditions they need to germinate. Then she intends to try her hand at grapes.
“Gardening gives me peace and a break from screens and academic deadlines. It’s sort of like a way for me to meditate and to reconnect with something simple and alive. Oh my gosh, I love gardening!”
‘United as a community’
The 2025 edition was the second INTEREST conference Patane attended, after presenting a poster in 2023 in Mozambique. Patane nearly didn’t make it to Windhoek, however.
“This year, I didn’t have any funding at all. I was either going to use my savings or try to find ways to pay for the flights and everything. Fortunately, my supervisors found a way to support me.”
Beyond winning the award, INTEREST 2025 held many memorable moments for Patane. “One of the biggest highlights was witnessing the wide range of HIV research being conducted across Africa. You could see there’s progress being made in HIV science and care.
“What I found inspiring was how determined everyone was in making a difference in public health – it shows we are not just united as researchers, but as a community. During the conference, we had other young researchers who are increasingly stepping up and taking up space in scientific discourse. That gave me a sense of hope for the future of science on the continent.”
