Professor Kathy Myburgh is only the second South African scientist to have been recognised by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) for her important contributions to exercise science.
The ACSM is the world's largest sports medicine and exercise science organisation, with more than 50,000 international, national and regional members.
In 1996 Professor Tim Noakes from the Institute for Sport Science at UCT was the first South African to receive a Citation Award from the ACSM.
Prof Myburgh is one of six select scientists from around the world to have received a 2023 Citation Award.
The announcement was made recently during a gala dinner at the end of the 2023 ACSM Annual Meeting and World Congress in Denver, Colorado.
Myburgh holds the South African Research Chair in Skeletal Muscle Physiology, Biology and Biotechnology in the Department of Physiological Sciences at Stellenbosch University (SU), where she is also a distinguished professor. She was elected as an ACSM Fellow in 1991.
Over the course of her career, Myburgh has authored over 180 publications with nearly 15,000 citations.
Myburgh said she was honoured by the Citation Award, as the ACSM had been her academic home society since the 1990s.
“I have attended around twenty ACSM conferences over the years. I have met wonderful people in my field of interest whose respect for my work encouraged me even further. I was always happy to contribute to the ACSM annual meetings when I thought I had something interesting to share,” she said.
IOL