Committee Information:
THE ORGANISING COMMITTEE:
• Prof Kebashni Thandrayen | 2023 SOCM Research Day Chairperson
Associate Prof Thandrayen is an Adjunct Professor and the Divisional Head of Paediatric Endocrinology at the University of the Witwatersrand. She obtained her PhD in 2014 on “Bone mass and fractures in South African children” that was co-supervised by Prof JM Pettifor and SA Norris. Her other fundamental role is the Head/Chairperson of the Paediatric Research committee and is the research coordinator of the Paediatric Department since 2017 promoting MMed research within the department. She has supervised 7 MMed students and 1 MSc student to completion. Her current research interests pertain mainly to bone health, endocrinology including diabetes and metabolic bone disorders. She has first authored and co-authored 19 peer-reviewed articles mainly on metabolic bone disorders. Her focus now is to promote and expand the training, teaching and research in Paediatric endocrinology and diabetes at the University of the Witwatersrand, together with inter-departmental, inter-provincial and international collaborations.
• Dr Anushka Ajith
Dr Ajith is the Faculty of Health Sciences Research Coordinator based at the Health Sciences Research Office (HSRO). Her role is to support postgraduate students and staff with their research. She is actively involved in teaching postgraduate courses, such as research methodology and scientific writing skills and the supervisor’s course to staff in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Dr Ajith also facilitate writing retreats for Masters and PhD students. She is the Chair of the Research Coordinators Committee and serves as an external assessor for the School of Oral Health Sciences and the School of Therapeutic Sciences. Dr Ajith completed my doctoral thesis on the role of peripheral natural killer cells in immunocompromised pre-eclamptic, normotensive pregnant and non- pregnant Black South African women. She have published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at both national and international conferences. Her research interest is in immunology and pre-eclampsia and she has supervised several Masters students to completion.
• Dr Evelyn Lumngwena
Dr Lumngwena is a Researcher Scientist and Coordinator of MMed Research for Cluster C. Evelyn obtained a PhD in Molecular and Cellular biology from the University of Cape Town (UCT), studying the mechanisms of HIV transmission. Following her PhD, Evelyn worked at the Cape Heart Institutes as an investigator to understand the molecular pathogenesis of Rheumatic valvular heart diseases (RHD). Evelyn is excited by Inflammation in infectious, autoimmune, and chronic diseases and her work includes: Translational cardiovascular research includes proteomics, biomarkers and other small molecules, microbiome and other co-morbidities in RHD. Autoimmune mechanisms in RHD. Immune responses to viral infections and vaccines.
• Ms Pumla Sodo
Ms Sodo is currently working as an Associate Researcher in the School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. She holds master’s degree in public health from SMU, and she is a PhD candidate in the field of Public Health at the University of Witwatersrand. Pumla was awarded and completed a one-year Pepfar Research Fellowship in 2015, by the Professional Development. Her research interests lie in Human Resources for Health, and she has published both locally and internationaly.
• Prof Karl-Gunter Technau
Prof Technau isa doctor currently managing the paediatric HIV clinic at Rahima Moosa, having worked here since 2005. Having pursued a part-academic and part-clinical career he have completed by PhD and MSc(Med) in topics related to maternal and infant HIV diagnosis after initially completing my Diploma in Child Health and Diploma of HIV Management. A large focus of his work has been infant and maternal care and trying to help reduce mortality since these are two of the most devastating challenges facing South Africa due to the HIV epidemic and every single averted death and prevented illness brings the country closer to reaching not only its international commitments but more importantly its promise of a better life to its population many of whom remain extremely vulnerable. As our population of children living with HIV are growing up in front of us, his interest has also more recently included adolescent care, palliative care and the field of mental health in patients, families and staff. Increasingly he is realizes that working in healthcare requires us to provide treatment with our mind, body and spirit, the last of which is often the most neglected; yet it is the much needed conscious foundation of meaningful interaction between healthcare worker and patient, teacher and student and fellow human beings.
• Dr Amy Wise
Dr Wise is a senior consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology working at Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital since 2009. She is a Sub-specialist in Maternal and Fetal Medicine. She has a Masters of Science, MMed, HIV Management Diploma and an Advanced Certificate in Health Management through the Foundation for Professional Development. She works with the Empilweni Services and Nkanyezi Research Unit both based at RMMCH. Recently she is part of WRHI collaboration looking at the effects of climate on maternal health. She is the chair of the O&G protocol committee. She runs a busy Fetal Medicine and Obstetric unit.
• Ms Sina Dondolo
• Mr Naseem Ebrahim
• Ms Boipelo Kgosinkwe
THE SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE:
• Prof Deirdre Kruger | 2023 SOCM Research Day Co-Chairperson
Prof Kruger is the Head of Research and Laboratories in the Wits Department of Surgery since August 2020. She joined the Department in June 2010 as a Research Scientist and the Postgraduate Research Coordinator. She loves research and works at the intersection of biochemistry, molecular medicine and translational research in surgery, in particular patients with cancer (mainly pancreatic and breast cancers) or vascular disease. Biostatistics is another passion and she runs a Surgical Statistics Hub under the auspices of the NIHR Global Surgery Unit. Prof Kruger has a PhD in Molecular Medicine from St George’s, University of London in the United Kingdom, and she is a NRF C2 rated scientist. She supervises many postgraduate degrees, including MMED, Sc and PhDs, and she is a regular internal and external examiner for PG degrees.
• Prof Ziyaad Dangor
Associate Professor Ziyaad Dangor is the clinical research director at the world-renowned Medical Research Council, Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit (VIDA). He is a paediatric pulmonologist at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Heath at the University of the Witwatersrand. Ziyaad has undertaken investigator-initiated, original research using a range of clinical, epidemiological and laboratory-based research techniques to establish a successful research output, including the publication of cited papers in high-impact factor journals in the field. For a complete list of published work, visit: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1tsJ8pHeTx1AO/bibliography/public/. Ziyaad is actively involved in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching at the University of Witwatersrand. He is the chair of the South African Paediatric Association, and an examiner in the College of Paediatricians of South Africa. He is also an instructor with the Advanced Paediatric Life Support Group.
• Dr Joel Francis
Dr Francis is n epidemiologist at the University of the Witwatersrand, School of Clinical Medicine, Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care. He is am rated at the NRF-C2 level by the South Africa National Research Foundation (NRF). Prior to joining WITS, he worked as a research scientist with the National Institute for Medical Research in Tanzania, and as a research fellow with the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University. I holds a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree (equivalent to MBBCh) from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, an MSc in Epidemiology from Harvard University, USA, and a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of London (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), UK. He engages in 1) Research supervision and mentorship of undergraduate, Master, and PhD candidates in Epidemiology, Family Medicine, and Public Health. 2) Health research - areas of interest HIV, Alcohol and Other Drug Use, Mental Health, Implementation Science and Epidemiology (Surveys, Case-Control Studies, Cohort studies, Systematic review, and meta-analysis, Cluster Randomized Trials, Randomized Control Trials, and Data Mining). He serves on the editorial boards of the following journals: three BMC series journals (BMC- Public Health, BMC – Global Health Research and Policy, and BMC - Infectious Diseases), two PLOS journals (PLOS One and PLOS Global Public Health), statistical editor for the Health Policy and Planning journal, Deputy Editor in Chief at Health Promotion International journal, an editorial advisor at the BMJ Open journal and the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. He serves as an honorary faculty at the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and as adjunct faculty at the School of Life Science and Bioengineering at Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology, Arusha, Tanzania. He is a member of the International AIDS Society and serves as a Board Member of the International Confederation of ATOD Research Associations (ICARA).
• Dr Nimmisha Govind
Dr Govind is the current academic head Rheumatology at the University of the Witwatersrand and the clinical head at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital. She was previously awarded the Carnegie Clinician Scientist PhD research fellowship and completed her PhD on ‘Genetics of Rheumatoid arthritis in Black South Africans’. Her research interest is on various aspects of rheumatoid arthritis. She has served on various congress scientific committees.
• Prof Pascaline Fru
Associate Professor Pascaline Fru is a scientist in the Department of Surgery. She is primarily involved in pancreatic research. She supervises clinical registrars and a growing number of MSc and PhD students and manages the Flow cytometry Facility in the department to enable users to gain hands-on experience on this specialist skill. As a holder of a Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education (PGDipHE) certificate, she has been puzzled by some teaching and learning gaps in PG supervision and is keenly exploring and proposing solutions. Her contributions to a book chapter (under review), which argues the need for a specialist PGDipHE course for the sciences and her continuous effort in mentoring early career academics are some ways in which she has/is exploring solutions. She has published extensively and received numerous national and international grants/awards. She enjoys academic citizenship and finding ways of making the academic endeavour fun.
• Dr Belinda Marais
Dr Marais obtained her medical degree from WITS in 2001. She previously worked in HIV Clinical Research at Rahima Moosa Mother & Child Hospital and obtained her Diploma in HIV Management (SA) in 2006. Subsequently, she specialised in psychiatry, obtaining her FCPsych(SA) in 2012 and her MMED in Psychiatry through WITS in 2013. She has been working as a Psychiatrist at Tara Hospital since 2012. She is a WITS joint appointee and the chairperson of the Department of Psychiatry's Research Committee. She is involved in MMED research supervision, as well as the teaching and lecturing of both undergraduate and postgraduate students. Her interests are general adult psychiatry, treatment resistant schizophrenia, psychopharmacology and exercise & Mental health.
• Ms Jeanet Mazibuko
Jeanet Mazibuko is a laboratory technician in the Department of Surgery, Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand. She obtained her Master of Science degree in Medicine cum laude. She has experience in the management of research samples for the different studies in the Department of Surgery. She is also an Exco member of the Wits School of Clinical Medicine’s Graduate Studies and Research Committee.
• Prof Lisa Micklesfield
Prof Micklesfield is a Research Professor and Deputy Director in the SA-MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand, and leads the Adulthood and Ageing research programme. After completing her PhD in 2004 she completed a post-doctoral fellowship (2004-2007) at the University of Cape Town, focusing on early life and current determinants of bone health in children of different ethnicities. She then received a research fellowship at the University of the Witwatersrand and was appointed as a Senior Researcher in DPHRU in 2011, promoted to Reader in April 2017 and Research Professor in April 2022. Her research addresses four major themes: (i) Epidemiology of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in African cohorts; (ii) Measurement of physical activity and other risk factors for NCDs; (iii) Aetiological understanding of mechanisms of NCDs; and (iv) Health messaging and impact. She has published 163 papers in peer-reviewed journals and co-authored 3 chapters
• Dr Ekene Nweke
Dr Nweke is a Researcher and Research Coordinator at the WITS Department of Surgery. He is also an NRF Y-Rated Researcher. He obtained an MSc (cum laude in Molecular and Cell Biology) in 2015 and a PhD in 2017, both from the University of Witwatersrand. His current research interests are biomarker discovery and understanding molecular mechanisms in the development and progression of pancreatic and gallbladder cancers amongst patients of African ancestry by utilizing a multi-omic approach. He is also interested in leveraging biomedical research techniques and tools in cancer precision medicine towards better patient treatment. He supervises postgraduate students including MMEDs, MSCs and PhDs. He enjoys working in multidisciplinary teams, both locally and internationally, towards conducting innovative research. Dr Nweke is currently an executive member of the Surgical Research Society of Southern Africa and the co-chair of the Biospecimen and laboratory analysis committee of the African Hepatopancreatobiliary cancer consortium.
• Dr Doyin Ojifinni
Dr Ojifinni is a Community Medicine Specialist with a PhD in Public Health and a Fellowship of the West African College of Physicians (Community Health). She has about 20 years of clinical experience in both private and public sectors. Currently a researcher at the School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, her interests include quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research in epidemiology, maternal and child health and non-communicable disease prevention.
• Prof Joanne Potterton
Prof Potterton is a personal professor in the physiotherapy department and has worked at Wits for over 25 years. She is responsible for teaching paediatric physiotherapy at undergraduate and post graduate level. Joanne’s main research interest is paediatric HIV and its effect on child development. Joanne’s research has contributed to understanding the complex interplay between HIV infection and social deprivation and the impact this has on infant and child development. Joanne has supervised numerous post graduate students at masters and PhD level and has presented and published her work nationally and internationally
• Mr Scott Smalley
Mr Smalley is a lecturer and prior Head of Division of Clinical Associates, Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care, University of Witwatersrand. Mr Smalley coordinated the undergraduate and postgraduate Bachelor of Clinical Medical Practice (BCMP) degrees to train students to be registered as Clinical Associates from 2016-2021. He is the current Immediate Past President for the International Academy of Physician Associate Educators, a non-profit to promote PA education globally. He just completed a 12-month sabbatical to research the African clinical officer education programmes. He graduated from the University of Vermont in 1991 with a BSc and Northeastern University Bouve College of Health Sciences in 2007 with a Masters in Science in Physician Assistant Studies in the United States. He recently completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Health Science Education at University of Witwatersrand.
• Prof Kebashni Thandrayen | 2023 SOCM Research Day Chairperson
Associate Prof Thandrayen is an Adjunct Professor and the Divisional Head of Paediatric Endocrinology at the University of the Witwatersrand. She obtained her PhD in 2014 on “Bone mass and fractures in South African children” that was co-supervised by Prof JM Pettifor and SA Norris. Her other fundamental role is the Head/Chairperson of the Paediatric Research committee and is the research coordinator of the Paediatric Department since 2017 promoting MMed research within the department. She has supervised 7 MMed students and 1 MSc student to completion. Her current research interests pertain mainly to bone health, endocrinology including diabetes and metabolic bone disorders. She has first authored and co-authored 19 peer-reviewed articles mainly on metabolic bone disorders. Her focus now is to promote and expand the training, teaching and research in Paediatric endocrinology and diabetes at the University of the Witwatersrand, together with inter-departmental, inter-provincial and international collaborations.
• Dr Anushka Ajith
Dr Ajith is the Faculty of Health Sciences Research Coordinator based at the Health Sciences Research Office (HSRO). Her role is to support postgraduate students and staff with their research. She is actively involved in teaching postgraduate courses, such as research methodology and scientific writing skills and the supervisor’s course to staff in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Dr Ajith also facilitate writing retreats for Masters and PhD students. She is the Chair of the Research Coordinators Committee and serves as an external assessor for the School of Oral Health Sciences and the School of Therapeutic Sciences. Dr Ajith completed my doctoral thesis on the role of peripheral natural killer cells in immunocompromised pre-eclamptic, normotensive pregnant and non- pregnant Black South African women. She have published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at both national and international conferences. Her research interest is in immunology and pre-eclampsia and she has supervised several Masters students to completion.
• Dr Evelyn Lumngwena
Dr Lumngwena is a Researcher Scientist and Coordinator of MMed Research for Cluster C. Evelyn obtained a PhD in Molecular and Cellular biology from the University of Cape Town (UCT), studying the mechanisms of HIV transmission. Following her PhD, Evelyn worked at the Cape Heart Institutes as an investigator to understand the molecular pathogenesis of Rheumatic valvular heart diseases (RHD). Evelyn is excited by Inflammation in infectious, autoimmune, and chronic diseases and her work includes: Translational cardiovascular research includes proteomics, biomarkers and other small molecules, microbiome and other co-morbidities in RHD. Autoimmune mechanisms in RHD. Immune responses to viral infections and vaccines.
• Ms Pumla Sodo
Ms Sodo is currently working as an Associate Researcher in the School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. She holds master’s degree in public health from SMU, and she is a PhD candidate in the field of Public Health at the University of Witwatersrand. Pumla was awarded and completed a one-year Pepfar Research Fellowship in 2015, by the Professional Development. Her research interests lie in Human Resources for Health, and she has published both locally and internationaly.
• Prof Karl-Gunter Technau
Prof Technau isa doctor currently managing the paediatric HIV clinic at Rahima Moosa, having worked here since 2005. Having pursued a part-academic and part-clinical career he have completed by PhD and MSc(Med) in topics related to maternal and infant HIV diagnosis after initially completing my Diploma in Child Health and Diploma of HIV Management. A large focus of his work has been infant and maternal care and trying to help reduce mortality since these are two of the most devastating challenges facing South Africa due to the HIV epidemic and every single averted death and prevented illness brings the country closer to reaching not only its international commitments but more importantly its promise of a better life to its population many of whom remain extremely vulnerable. As our population of children living with HIV are growing up in front of us, his interest has also more recently included adolescent care, palliative care and the field of mental health in patients, families and staff. Increasingly he is realizes that working in healthcare requires us to provide treatment with our mind, body and spirit, the last of which is often the most neglected; yet it is the much needed conscious foundation of meaningful interaction between healthcare worker and patient, teacher and student and fellow human beings.
• Dr Amy Wise
Dr Wise is a senior consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology working at Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital since 2009. She is a Sub-specialist in Maternal and Fetal Medicine. She has a Masters of Science, MMed, HIV Management Diploma and an Advanced Certificate in Health Management through the Foundation for Professional Development. She works with the Empilweni Services and Nkanyezi Research Unit both based at RMMCH. Recently she is part of WRHI collaboration looking at the effects of climate on maternal health. She is the chair of the O&G protocol committee. She runs a busy Fetal Medicine and Obstetric unit.
• Ms Sina Dondolo
• Mr Naseem Ebrahim
• Ms Boipelo Kgosinkwe
THE SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE:
• Prof Deirdre Kruger | 2023 SOCM Research Day Co-Chairperson
Prof Kruger is the Head of Research and Laboratories in the Wits Department of Surgery since August 2020. She joined the Department in June 2010 as a Research Scientist and the Postgraduate Research Coordinator. She loves research and works at the intersection of biochemistry, molecular medicine and translational research in surgery, in particular patients with cancer (mainly pancreatic and breast cancers) or vascular disease. Biostatistics is another passion and she runs a Surgical Statistics Hub under the auspices of the NIHR Global Surgery Unit. Prof Kruger has a PhD in Molecular Medicine from St George’s, University of London in the United Kingdom, and she is a NRF C2 rated scientist. She supervises many postgraduate degrees, including MMED, Sc and PhDs, and she is a regular internal and external examiner for PG degrees.
• Prof Ziyaad Dangor
Associate Professor Ziyaad Dangor is the clinical research director at the world-renowned Medical Research Council, Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit (VIDA). He is a paediatric pulmonologist at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Heath at the University of the Witwatersrand. Ziyaad has undertaken investigator-initiated, original research using a range of clinical, epidemiological and laboratory-based research techniques to establish a successful research output, including the publication of cited papers in high-impact factor journals in the field. For a complete list of published work, visit: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1tsJ8pHeTx1AO/bibliography/public/. Ziyaad is actively involved in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching at the University of Witwatersrand. He is the chair of the South African Paediatric Association, and an examiner in the College of Paediatricians of South Africa. He is also an instructor with the Advanced Paediatric Life Support Group.
• Dr Joel Francis
Dr Francis is n epidemiologist at the University of the Witwatersrand, School of Clinical Medicine, Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care. He is am rated at the NRF-C2 level by the South Africa National Research Foundation (NRF). Prior to joining WITS, he worked as a research scientist with the National Institute for Medical Research in Tanzania, and as a research fellow with the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University. I holds a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree (equivalent to MBBCh) from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, an MSc in Epidemiology from Harvard University, USA, and a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of London (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), UK. He engages in 1) Research supervision and mentorship of undergraduate, Master, and PhD candidates in Epidemiology, Family Medicine, and Public Health. 2) Health research - areas of interest HIV, Alcohol and Other Drug Use, Mental Health, Implementation Science and Epidemiology (Surveys, Case-Control Studies, Cohort studies, Systematic review, and meta-analysis, Cluster Randomized Trials, Randomized Control Trials, and Data Mining). He serves on the editorial boards of the following journals: three BMC series journals (BMC- Public Health, BMC – Global Health Research and Policy, and BMC - Infectious Diseases), two PLOS journals (PLOS One and PLOS Global Public Health), statistical editor for the Health Policy and Planning journal, Deputy Editor in Chief at Health Promotion International journal, an editorial advisor at the BMJ Open journal and the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. He serves as an honorary faculty at the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and as adjunct faculty at the School of Life Science and Bioengineering at Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology, Arusha, Tanzania. He is a member of the International AIDS Society and serves as a Board Member of the International Confederation of ATOD Research Associations (ICARA).
• Dr Nimmisha Govind
Dr Govind is the current academic head Rheumatology at the University of the Witwatersrand and the clinical head at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital. She was previously awarded the Carnegie Clinician Scientist PhD research fellowship and completed her PhD on ‘Genetics of Rheumatoid arthritis in Black South Africans’. Her research interest is on various aspects of rheumatoid arthritis. She has served on various congress scientific committees.
• Prof Pascaline Fru
Associate Professor Pascaline Fru is a scientist in the Department of Surgery. She is primarily involved in pancreatic research. She supervises clinical registrars and a growing number of MSc and PhD students and manages the Flow cytometry Facility in the department to enable users to gain hands-on experience on this specialist skill. As a holder of a Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education (PGDipHE) certificate, she has been puzzled by some teaching and learning gaps in PG supervision and is keenly exploring and proposing solutions. Her contributions to a book chapter (under review), which argues the need for a specialist PGDipHE course for the sciences and her continuous effort in mentoring early career academics are some ways in which she has/is exploring solutions. She has published extensively and received numerous national and international grants/awards. She enjoys academic citizenship and finding ways of making the academic endeavour fun.
• Dr Belinda Marais
Dr Marais obtained her medical degree from WITS in 2001. She previously worked in HIV Clinical Research at Rahima Moosa Mother & Child Hospital and obtained her Diploma in HIV Management (SA) in 2006. Subsequently, she specialised in psychiatry, obtaining her FCPsych(SA) in 2012 and her MMED in Psychiatry through WITS in 2013. She has been working as a Psychiatrist at Tara Hospital since 2012. She is a WITS joint appointee and the chairperson of the Department of Psychiatry's Research Committee. She is involved in MMED research supervision, as well as the teaching and lecturing of both undergraduate and postgraduate students. Her interests are general adult psychiatry, treatment resistant schizophrenia, psychopharmacology and exercise & Mental health.
• Ms Jeanet Mazibuko
Jeanet Mazibuko is a laboratory technician in the Department of Surgery, Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand. She obtained her Master of Science degree in Medicine cum laude. She has experience in the management of research samples for the different studies in the Department of Surgery. She is also an Exco member of the Wits School of Clinical Medicine’s Graduate Studies and Research Committee.
• Prof Lisa Micklesfield
Prof Micklesfield is a Research Professor and Deputy Director in the SA-MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand, and leads the Adulthood and Ageing research programme. After completing her PhD in 2004 she completed a post-doctoral fellowship (2004-2007) at the University of Cape Town, focusing on early life and current determinants of bone health in children of different ethnicities. She then received a research fellowship at the University of the Witwatersrand and was appointed as a Senior Researcher in DPHRU in 2011, promoted to Reader in April 2017 and Research Professor in April 2022. Her research addresses four major themes: (i) Epidemiology of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in African cohorts; (ii) Measurement of physical activity and other risk factors for NCDs; (iii) Aetiological understanding of mechanisms of NCDs; and (iv) Health messaging and impact. She has published 163 papers in peer-reviewed journals and co-authored 3 chapters
• Dr Ekene Nweke
Dr Nweke is a Researcher and Research Coordinator at the WITS Department of Surgery. He is also an NRF Y-Rated Researcher. He obtained an MSc (cum laude in Molecular and Cell Biology) in 2015 and a PhD in 2017, both from the University of Witwatersrand. His current research interests are biomarker discovery and understanding molecular mechanisms in the development and progression of pancreatic and gallbladder cancers amongst patients of African ancestry by utilizing a multi-omic approach. He is also interested in leveraging biomedical research techniques and tools in cancer precision medicine towards better patient treatment. He supervises postgraduate students including MMEDs, MSCs and PhDs. He enjoys working in multidisciplinary teams, both locally and internationally, towards conducting innovative research. Dr Nweke is currently an executive member of the Surgical Research Society of Southern Africa and the co-chair of the Biospecimen and laboratory analysis committee of the African Hepatopancreatobiliary cancer consortium.
• Dr Doyin Ojifinni
Dr Ojifinni is a Community Medicine Specialist with a PhD in Public Health and a Fellowship of the West African College of Physicians (Community Health). She has about 20 years of clinical experience in both private and public sectors. Currently a researcher at the School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, her interests include quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research in epidemiology, maternal and child health and non-communicable disease prevention.
• Prof Joanne Potterton
Prof Potterton is a personal professor in the physiotherapy department and has worked at Wits for over 25 years. She is responsible for teaching paediatric physiotherapy at undergraduate and post graduate level. Joanne’s main research interest is paediatric HIV and its effect on child development. Joanne’s research has contributed to understanding the complex interplay between HIV infection and social deprivation and the impact this has on infant and child development. Joanne has supervised numerous post graduate students at masters and PhD level and has presented and published her work nationally and internationally
• Mr Scott Smalley
Mr Smalley is a lecturer and prior Head of Division of Clinical Associates, Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care, University of Witwatersrand. Mr Smalley coordinated the undergraduate and postgraduate Bachelor of Clinical Medical Practice (BCMP) degrees to train students to be registered as Clinical Associates from 2016-2021. He is the current Immediate Past President for the International Academy of Physician Associate Educators, a non-profit to promote PA education globally. He just completed a 12-month sabbatical to research the African clinical officer education programmes. He graduated from the University of Vermont in 1991 with a BSc and Northeastern University Bouve College of Health Sciences in 2007 with a Masters in Science in Physician Assistant Studies in the United States. He recently completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Health Science Education at University of Witwatersrand.
