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New head honcho at Groote Schuur
From Antarctica to Haiti, to red zones in Cape Town, Dr Shaheem de Vries is accustomed to getting his hands dirty while saving lives....
Young black female scientist’s role in leprosy cure
For centuries, and up until about the 1920s, there was no remedy for leprosy’s debilitating symptoms or its social stigma, but these days it’s...
Leading forensic expert probes mysteries of SA’s dead
Professor Lorna Martin – South Africa’s first woman to head a forensic medicine department – not only spends her working life in mortuaries, she...
Groote Schuur Hospital CEO retires
Groote Schuur Hospital CEO Dr Bhavna Patel retired this week after starting work at the facility as a public health registrar 23 years ago,...
How Dlamini-Zuma made an impact in the health sector
The retirement of the often controversial Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma from Parliament marks the end of a long era in SA politics.
Her biggest contribution was...
Bara ICU boss Rudo Mathivha retires
Emergency care doctor Rudo Mathivha, head of intensive care at Chris Hani Baragwanath, has worked tirelessly, for 25 years, to transform the trauma unit...
SA’s youngest woman doctor gives back to community
It was a full-circle moment for South Africa's youngest female doctor, Thakgalo Thibela, when she bumped into the obstetrician who helped deliver her 23...
From a pig farm in Zimbabwe to trailblazing HIV researcher – Prof Linda-Gail Bekker
Inside Professor Linda-Gail Bekker’s office is a bookshelf stacked with titles on general medicine, HIV/Aids and TB, while against this rests a mannequin dressed...
Global recognition for UKZN student’s cancer research
A University of KwaZulu-Natal medicinal chemistry doctoral student was recently recognised as being among the continent’s leading young female scientists, her path to this...
Nurse from one of SA' poorest areas crowned rural nurse of the year
Nosiphiwo Gunuza (43) from Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape, who was the first college graduate in her family and was recently crowned South Africa’s...
The surgeon behind Siya Kolisi’s rapid recovery
Mental strength played an important role in Bok captain Siya Kolisi’s speedy recovery from a knee injury that saw him back in action and...
Leading UKZN TB scientist wins global award
KwaZulu-Natal’s world-renowned TB expert Professor Kogie Naidoo has been honoured for her achievements with the Outstanding Female Scientist Prize presented by the European and...
Rural doctor of the year gives back to community that shaped her
Describing the rutted gravel road between Butterworth and Tafalofefe District Hospital in the Eastern Cape, Dr Bukiwe Spondo uses the word “terrible” at least...
Paediatrics ‘about creating better futures’: SA professor
A leading paediatric pulmonologist has called for global health authorities to bring to South Africa – among other resource-poor countries – new vaccines that...
Nobel Prize goes to duo for Covid mRNA jab technology
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to a pair of scientists who developed the technology that led to the mRNA...
Tshepong's 'Dr Brimey', a dying breed of doctors
Head of internal medicine at Klerksdorp’s Tshepong Hospital Ebrahim Variava may be one of a dying breed of doctors – unafraid to speak out against...
Paediatric surgeon dedicated to expanding care to rural children
Paediatric surgeon Dr Elliot Motloung, in Mbombela, has a plan – a blueprint – to expand access to quality, equitable paediatric surgery in every...
Lessons learned from Zithulele
Doctor Ben Gaunt, who led a team that transformed Zithulele Hospital in a Wild Coast village from a struggling public health facility into a...
Glenda Gray’s quest for lifesaving vaccines
Professor Glenda Gray, who is seeing out the final months of her 10-year term at the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), is looking...
Young scientist gains global recognition with virus research
Durban-born scientist Dr Sandile Cele received a special ministerial Batho Pele excellence award for his contribution to Covid-19 research in South Africa, with the...
Brains behind Covid EVDS spearheads NHI digital patient registration
The woman behind South Africa’s Covid electronic vaccination data system – EVDS, launched during the pandemic – is spearheading another mammoth project, a digital...
Limpopo-born expert scoops Global Schizophrenia Award
Dr Lebogang Phahladira, who grew up in rural home near Bela-Bela in Limpopo and studied by candlelight for his matric exams, has just returned...
UK award for SA surgeon focused on helping rural areas
Edinburgh’s Royal College of Surgeons has bestowed a Fellowship on the Eastern Cape’s Dr Radhakrishnan Jayakrishnan, who is dedicated to surgery in rural areas...
Good doctors require empathy – outgoing Health Ombud Makgoba
There's more to being a good doctor than just academic qualifications, says outgoing Health Ombudsman Malegapuru William Mokgaba.
“A good doctor requires empathy and a...
Trauma head at Bara pilots ICU through stormy waters
Professor Rudo Mathivha, who heads the trauma unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Soweto, is an extraordinary woman, who despite the headaches involved...
The pharmacy expert at the cutting edge of SA's medicines guidelines
KwaZulu-Natal pharmacy expert Andy Gray has spent much of his career writing treatment guidelines and essential medicines lists for the country’s public health system,...
From Cameroon to cutting-edge TB research at UCT
UCT Professor Muki Shey's passion for finding health solutions in resource-constrained settings was ignited by his own background, including childhood sickness. In Cameroon, he...
Oncologist’s foundation provides hope for state cancer patients
A leading radiation oncologist in Johannesburg has formed a foundation in memory of his late father and aunt, uniting experts from the local oncology...
The duo that keeps the NICD’s Respiratory Diseases Centre ticking
Johannesburg couple Anne von Gottberg and Cheryl Cohen are married, both mothers, as well as being medical doctors and scientists, and not only do...
SAHPRA's Helen Rees: an appetite for justice
As a rebellious teenager growing up in the British town of Harpenden, Helen Rees would sneak out to attend anti-apartheid talks. “That was the...
‘Everything about health is about behaviour’ – Professor Mosa Moshabela
At the core of health, says Professor Mosa Moshabela, is people’s behaviour. “My whole career has brought me to a point where I think...
Doctor fundraises for ECG machine to benefit patients
A young medical officer in the obstetrics and gynaecology department of a busy Gauteng hospital plans to raise funds to buy an ECG machine...
Gauteng Health looting and corruption rot ’runs deep’ – nurse activist
There’s no money for Panado or tenders for condoms, and yet there’re thousands of rands for skinny jeans, says fiery nurse activist Fikile Dikolomela-Lengene,...
Torchbearer for rural health
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Angela Hartwig was the only doctor at Adelaide Provincial Hospital, which offers 60 beds to a catchment area...
Top scientists awarded ASSaf gold awards
Eminent South African scientist Professor Karin Hofman was one of two Africans awarded an ASSAf Science-for-Society Gold Medal for outstanding achievement in scientific thinking to...
Soweto woman’s backyard prosthetic company finds its feet
An amputee at a local hospital, who could not access prosthetics for nearly five years, was the catalyst for a young Soweto woman to...
Rural Doctor of the Year Craig Parker created COVID lifeline for rural areas
East London’s Dr Craig Parker’s oxygen device – the OxERA – saved hundreds of lives during COVID-19, particularly around the rural Eastern Cape, and...
SAHPRA boss Semete-Makokotlela a leader with 'unparalleled focus'
Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela leads the country’s medicines regulator, the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority, a public entity few people knew about until COVID: she has...
Fauci to retire after half a century
December will see the end of an era in America, when Dr Anthony Fauci (81), after 50 years of government service, steps down from...
More recognition, accolades for Abdool Karims, with award from Japan
Famed Durban scientists Salim Abdool Karim and his wife Quarraisha are to be honoured by the Japanese Government for their work on HIV and...