Invited Speakers
— Prof Sanjay Lala
Associate Professor Sanjay Lala, a paediatrician and paediatric gastroenterologist, is currently working in the Learning and Teaching Office in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Wits University. He was formerly head of a Clinical Unit at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital. Sanjay has been in clinical practice for over thirty years, having worked in a wide array of public health care settings in South Africa and England (where he completed his doctoral studies at University College London as a Nelson Mandela Scholar). His past and present research interests/areas include inflammatory bowel disease, childhood infectious disease (especially childhood TB and Group B streptococcal disease), and paediatric educational research. He has been the convenor for the national South African paediatric fellowship (Part II FCPaed) written MCQ exams since its introduction in 2018, and is the recipient of the Vice Chancellor’s Team-Teaching Award and Phillip V Tobias and Convocation Distinguished Team Teachers’ Award.
— Prof Jonathan Levin
Prof Jonathan Levin is currently Professor of Biostatistics in the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the School of Public Health at the University of Witwatersrand, having joined the School full time in April 2015. Previously he taught part time on the MSc Biostatistics module, from the beginning of the MSc in Epidemiology in 2000. His main duties relate to teaching on the MSc in Epidemiology and Biostatistics and supervising postgraduate students. He also teaches on a number of Biostatistics Courses for the Health Sciences Research Office. His research interests are in Clinical trials and the analysis of clustered data, including Cluster Randomized Trials and the secondary analysis of multistage survey data.
— Dr Mantoa Mokhachane
Dr Mantoa Mokhachane (MBBCh, FCPaeds, MMed Paeds, PGDip-Health Science Education, PhD Candidate in Health Science Education). Director of the Unit of Undergraduate Medical Education at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg since 2015
She worked as a neonatologist at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital Neonatal Unit for 18 years prior to branching into Medical Education. Her interest in medical education is social justice and employing an African lens, Ubuntu, in Professional Identity Formation, through her current doctoral work in a paper titled “Rethinking Professional Identity Formation amidst protests and social upheaval: A journey in Africa”. Her work encompasses, neonatology, research ethics, highlighting issues of epistemic violence. She has been invited locally and internationally to speak and teach around these issues. She is a Steering Committee Member of the International Network in Kangaroo Mother Care (INK), the Human Research Ethics Committee at the University of Witwatersrand and SAMRC Bioethics Advisory Panel.
— Prof Shane Norris
Shane Norris is a Professor of Global Health at the University of Southampton (UK) and Research Professor within the Department of Paediatrics at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Shane is the Director of the South African Medical Research Council’s Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit (DPHRU). He is the President of the Africa Chapter of the International Society of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. Shane is also a professorial fellow at the Global Health Research Institute at the University of Southampton. Shane’s research focuses on lifecourse epidemiology with a specific interest in the development of intergenerational-risk for obesity and diabetes. His expertise includes nutrition and body composition across the lifecourse and longitudinal-cohort study methodologies. Shane is working with several scientists across Africa to both better understand and develop interventions that improve maternal and child health outcomes
— Prof Derick Raal
Frederick J. Raal, MBBCh (cum laude), FRCP, FRCPC, FCP(SA), Cert Endo, MMED, PhD, DSC. Director, Carbohydrate and Lipid Metabolism Research Unit, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Professor Derick Raal is a Distinguished Professor and Director of the Carbohydrate and Lipid Metabolism Research Unit, Faculty of Health Sciences, at the University of the Witwatersrand. After obtaining his MBBCh degree cum laude in 1981, he obtained his Master of Medicine in 1991, his PhD in 2000 and his Doctor of Science in 2022. He has received numerous postgraduate awards including the TH Bothwell Research Prize, the FJ Milne award, and the Vice Chancellor’s Research Award. He is a NRF A-rated scientist, is recognized as a Web of Science highly cited researcher, and has authored or co-authored over 350 original articles and book chapters. He is particularly interested in lipid disorders and has been integrally involved in the management of familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH). The major focus of his research remains the clinical, biochemical, genetic and therapeutic management of this condition and he continues to conduct studies with novel therapies such as ANGPTL3-inhibitors in this patient group.
