Professor Karen I Barnes is a Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Cape Town, the founding director of the MRC Collaborating Centre for Optimising Antimalarial Therapy and co-chair of the South African Malaria Elimination Committee. Karen also leads the Pharmacology Scientific Group and the Southern African Regional hub of the WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network. Karen has over twenty years of experience in malaria treatment research and policy making nationally, regionally and internationally. Her research interests focus on translational research on the clinical pharmacology of antimalarials in order to inform malaria treatment policy and practice – including the comprehensive evaluation of changes in treatment policy and how these impact on antimalarial resistance, optimising dosing in vulnerable populations (young children, pregnant women and patients with HIV/AIDS or malnutrition) in order to delay drug resistance, and the clinical development of much-needed novel antimalarials. Other areas of interest include equitable data sharing and how best to teach rational pharmacotherapy.