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Scientific Committee



Prof. Komala Pillay
Chairperson
Prof. Koleka Mlisana
AARQA Executive
Prof. Johann Schneider
Anatomical Pathology
Prof. Nigel Crowther
Chemical Pathology
Ms. Oketsang Mohlamonye
Forensic Chemistry
Prof. Johan Potgieter
Haematology
Dr. Ruth Rankapole
Haematology
Dr. Ravnit Grewal
Haematology
Prof. Raj Ramesar
Human Genetics
Prof. Pieter Meyer
Immunology
Prof. Christa Grobler
Immunology
Prof. Adrian Brink
Medical Microbiology
Prof. Olga Perovic
Medical Microbiology
Prof. Felicity Burt
Medical Virology
Dr. Nokukhanya Msomi
Medical Virology
Mrs. Tabita Makula
Operations
Dr. Babatyi Malope-Kgokong
Organising Committee
Prof. Muzimkhulu Zungu
Public Health

Ms. Oketsang Mohlamonyane

I am the Principal Forensic Analyst managing Forensic Chemistry Laboratory in Johannesburg. I have B-Tech Degree in Chemistry from Technikon North West (Tshwane University of Technology) and B-Tech Degree in Quality, Certificate in Business Management, Certificate in Business Psychology and Human Behaviour from University of South Africa. Currently studying MSc. Applied Science: Chemistry, researching plant’s natural products. Isolation and identification of compounds from plant material, testing them for their biological activity against cancer. Presented a poster at 2nd African Traditional and Natural Product Medicine conference. I Started my work in the field of Forensic Chemistry in 2002 at the South African Police Service Forensic Laboratory working in drugs and toxicology sections. In 2004 I moved to National Department of Health in Pretoria Forensic Chemistry Laboratory employed as Senior Forensic Analyst. In 2006 I moved to Forensic Chemistry Laboratory where I worked as Quality Manager and also as Toxicology Laboratory Manager.

Prof. Koleka Mlisana

Prof. Koleka Mlisana is the Executive Manager: Academic Affairs, Research & Quality Assurance at the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), since July 2018. Prior to this she was the HOD: Medical Microbiology at UKZN/IALCH; also served a term as a member of the NHLS Board; and used to be a member of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance. Her work includes previously being an active HIV/AIDS researcher, for over a decade focussing on HIV prevention and pathogenesis, working at the Centre for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), Durban. She has undertaken seminal research which has revealed how the body responds during acute HIV infection. Her current research interests include TB diagnostics, antimicrobial resistance as well as sexually transmitted infections. Prof Mlisana has co-authored more than 190 peer reviewed journal articles. Amongst other national commitments, Prof Mlisana is the Co-chair of the Covid-19 Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC), she previously chaired the Pathology/Laboratory subcommittee of the first established MAC for Covid-19; up until recently she was a member of the Board of Trustees for the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) as well as the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAF), and she is a member of the Medical and Dental Board of the HPCSA/Medical Scientist Committee. She has nurtured and mentored many young scientists and is passionate about equipping the next generation of leaders and scientists.

Prof. Christa Grobler

Prof. Grobler is well experienced in both the fields of Higher Education of South Africa and Biomedical Technology (Medical Laboratory Sciences), she is a senior lecturer at Vaal University of Technology (VUT) and currently the acting Executive Dean of the Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences at Vaal University of Technology. She has been involved in Medical Technology since 1989 and occupied positions on all levels (both in the laboratory and at the university) which contributed to a vast variety of experiences. She is a passionate educator in the field of Biomedical Technology and consider inter- trans- and multidisciplinary research collaboration as a high priority.

She obtained her D Tech in Biomedical Technology at Durban University of Technology (DUT) in 2015. Appointed as an Associate Professor from 1st December 2021. Her research focus is to evaluate the cardiovascular risk in black South Africans. She has been involved in several multidisciplinary research projects with the objective to identify nutritional and health risk factors in various vulnerable communities in the Vaal region, QwaQwa, Orange Farms, Alexandra and Cofimvaba since 1999. Her research and development studies at present are mainly focusing on the prevalence of genetic polymorphisms linked with cardiovascular disease and possible influencing factors for interventional studies.

She received the Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences Research Achievement Award (2010). She received a sabbatical grand from NRF in 2011 as part of the IMPROVEMENT OF ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS (IAQ) programme. Apart from supervised eight master students successfully and numerous B Tech research projects (±140). She is author/co-author of ten (10) full-length peer reviewed papers and co-authored two book chapter. She has presented at various national (4) and international conferences (10) and co-authored abstracts as part of conference proceedings.

Prof Grobler is Nationally recognized as a leader in Health Science. She has been appointed in 2020 to serve on the Medical Technology Board (Vice chair) of the Health Professions Council of South Africa till 2025 by the Minister of Health. Additionally, appointed by Member of Executive Council (MEC): Health to serve as a member of the Provincial Health Research Committee of Health in Gauteng. The Society of Medical technology of South Africa (SMLTSA) appointed Prof Grobler to serve on the Immunology Scientific Advisory Committee. Council of Higher Education (CHE) appointed Prof Grobler to serve as a member of an Institutional Audit Panel.

Dr. Nokukhanya Msomi

Dr. Msomi is a clinical virologist and head of the virology department at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS). She is a founding member of the Network for Genomic Surveillance (NGS-SA), a network that was set up in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and has led the genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV2 in Southern Africa. She serves in various national committees including the Polio National Certification Committee (NCC), which oversees the country’s Polio eradication activities and the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA). Dr Msomi is also a board member of the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) and the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI).

Prof. Johan Potgieter

Prof. Johan Potgieter Potgieter is currently the Head of the Department of Haematology of the National Health Laboratory Service – Tshwane Academic Division and University of Pretoria. After obtaining a bachelor of Medicine (MBChB) degree at the University of Pretoria in 1996, he specialised in Family Medicine. On completing his Master of Medicine degree in haematology in 2008, he joined the Department of Haematology as a pathologist. Prof Potgieter is affiliated to several organisations and serves on a number of committees including being the past Chairman of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Council of the South African Haemophilia Foundation. He has a special interest in laboratory haematology and bleeding disorders.

Prof. Raj Ramesar Grewal

Prof. Raj Ramesar is the Head of the Division of Human Genetics at the University of Cape Town and the director of the MRC Genomic and Precision Medicine Research Unit. His research focuses on using genomic sciences to understand and address complex diseases that are common and impactful in South Africa, such as cancer, inherited retinal diseases, and neuropsychiatric conditions such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and suicidal behaviour. Raj has received numerous awards for his work, including the Vice Chancellor's Alan Pifer Award and the International Human Genome Organisation's Africa Award. He serves on various international advisory panels, editorial boards, and professional societies, and he is recently led the bid to host the International Congress of Human Genetics in Cape Town in 2023. He has published more thank 260 articles in international peer-reviewed journals, In addition to his scientific pursuits, Raj’s hobbies include painting and growing bonsai.

Dr. Ravnit Grewal

Dr. Ravnit Grewal is a Principal Haematology Pathologist at the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), Haematology Department, Nelson Mandela Bay and Sara Baartman Business Unit, Eastern Cape Region, South Africa (SA). She qualified in 2010 from Stellenbosch University (SU) after acquiring the FC Path (Haem), (CMSA) as well as an M Med. Thereafter she worked for the (NHLS)/SU at Tygerberg Hospital for most of her career although she has experienced being part of other institutions as well.

There are several research interests in her portfolio where she either participated as a member or chaired over the years, thus building many collaborations both nationally and internationally. She is also a reviewer and editor of international medical journals. Additionally, she has served as an expert reviewer as a member for the Essential Diagnostic List (EDL), Strategic Advisory Group of Experts in Vitro Diagnostics (SAGE IVD), World Health Organization, from 2019-2022.

Prof. Komala Pillay

Prof. Komala Pillay is the Wernher and Beit Chair and Head of the Division of Anatomical Pathology at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS), Groote Schuur Hospital (GSH) and Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital (RCWMCH) since January 2020. In July 2022 she was appointed as the Head of Department of Pathology at UCT/NHLS comprising eight divisions.

Prof Pillay qualified as a pathologist in 2004 and has specialist qualifications in South Africa (CMSA) and the United Kingdom (RCPath). She was a consultant pathologist at UCT/NHLS since 2005 and practised as the only anatomical pathologist at RCWMCH from 2007-2019 also contributing significantly to research (more than 100 publications) and teaching.

Dr. Babatyi Malope-Kgokong

Dr. Babatyi Innocentia Malope-Kgokong is currently a National Manager for Academic Affairs and Research for the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), South Africa and a member of the Executive Committee of the National Science and Technology Forum. She holds a PhD in Community Health from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. Part of the doctoral thesis was done in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute, Fredericks, Maryland, United States of America; and the National Cancer Registry, New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. She held academic positions at the following institutions - University of Limpopo (UL), University of Johannesburg (UJ) and worked as Epidemiologist and Data Manager at the Clinical HIV Research Unit and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).

Her doctoral thesis added more knowledge in the understanding of transmission patterns of Kaposi’s Sarcoma Herpes Virus of which the work was cited as part IARC monographs IARC, 110B, a publication of the World Health Organisation (https://monographs.iarc.who.int/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/mono100B-9.pdf ). She has also obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Economic Policies from the University of London (CeFIMS) and an MSc (Cum Laude) and BSc in Medical Laboratory Sciences majoring in Haematology from the University of Limpopo (UL). She has published more than 25 peer reviewed journal articles as first author and co-author and with about 1290 citations with an h-index of 15 and an i10 index of 17.

She served as a member of the National Health Research Committee (NHRC) appointed by the Minister of Health (2017 – 2020), the Health Professional Council of South Africa - Committee for Medical Scientists, member of the Clinical Trials Group

Prof. Adrian Brink

Prof. Adrian Brink is Head of the Division: Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town and the National Health Laboratory Services, Cape Town, South Africa. Prof Brink was founding President of the Federation of Infectious Diseases Societies of Southern Africa. He is the founder and currently co-chair of the South African Antibiotic Stewardship Program (SAASP). Prof Brink currently serves on the South African Minister of Health’s Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) on Antimicrobial Resistance and is member of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases International Affairs Subcommittee, representing Africa.

His is main research interests are the clinical and molecular epidemiology of antibiotic-resistant infections, the mechanisms of resistance as a confounder in antibiotic stewardship, the design and implementation of large-scale antibiotic stewardship and infection prevention and control interventions in low and middle-income countries. The current focus also includes the protective, metabolic and immune functions of the human biome.

Prof. Olga Perovic

Prof. Olga Perovic is a Principal Pathologist at the Centre for Healthcare-Associated Infections, Antimicrobial Resistance and Mycoses at National Institute for Communicable Diseases, a division of the NHLS. She is medical doctor with clinical microbiology speciality and is affiliated with Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at WITS. Her responsibilities include Antimicrobial Resistance Reference Laboratory, AMR surveillance, outbreak investigation, teaching and training. Professor Perovic leads Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) programs in South Africa. Prof Perovic is a principal investigator of numerous projects and she is involved in teaching and training of undergraduate, postgraduate and other related learners. She experiences a vast ranges of involvements in AMR field, from the basic antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) to the whole genome sequencing; from the bed site microbiology to the hospital antimicrobial stewardship programs; from infection control programs at hospitals to the national policy development; from the routine real time to the national AMR surveillance programs. Perovic is a chair of National Advisory Committee (NAC) for Antimicrobial Susceptibility at South African Society of Clinical Microbiology (SASCM). She is an expert in laboratory quality system and responsible for External Quality Assessment programs in bacteriology and antimicrobial susceptibility testing.

Prof. Perovic involvement in One Health AMR programs at the national and the global levels resonances in over eighty publications, supervision of masters, and PhD students; and expert membership of professional working groups. These are Global Antibiotic Resistance Partnership (GARP), South Africa, Strategic and Technical Advisory Group (STAG) on AMR at WHO, Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (GLASS), WHO and Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on in vitro Diagnostics (SAGE IVD) WHO; Critically Important Antimicrobials for Human Medicine at WHO and others.

Prof. Muzimkhulu Zungu

Prof. Muzimkhulu Zungu is a Public Health Medicine Specialist with further training and practice in occupational health. He is a joint appointment at the National Institute for Occupational Health (NIOH), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) and the School of Health Systems and Public Health (SHSPH), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria (UP). He has a strong interest in occupational health having previously been the Acting Executive Director of NIOH, Director in the Medial Bureau of Occupational Diseases (MBOD) and Assistant- Compensation Commissioner in the office of the Compensation Commissioner for Occupational diseases (CCOD) and adjunct Professor and senior lecturer at University of Pretoria, South Africa. He has been awarded grants by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Mine Health and Safety Council (MHSC). He has published on tuberculosis (mine and health workers), occupational health systems and services, provided input into technical reports for the World Health Organization (WHO), International Labour Organization (ILO), International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH), World Bank, African Union Development Agency of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD), and the South African Development Community (SADC). His current research focus is occupational health systems including information systems, Tuberculosis, HIV and COVID-19 including in vulnerable workers.

Prof. Johann Schneider

Prof. Johann Schneider is Professor and Head of the Division of Anatomical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University and National Health Laboratory Service, Tygerberg Academic Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa. He is interested in dermatopathology, HIV/AIDS-related malignancies, and biobanking. Since 2013, Johann has been the director of the NCI-supported Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Biospecimen Repository for the AIDS and Cancer Specimen Resource (ACSR) and the AIDS Malignancy Consortium (AMC). He is a member of the ACSR Executive Committee and biobank-related working groups. His research interests include HIV-related neoplasia, such as Kaposi’s sarcoma, as well as cutaneous tuberculosis, melanoma, and selected inflammatory dermatoses. He is the author or co-author of more than 80 publications. Current interests also include the ethical-regulatory challenges of biobanking and training and assessment of registrars in anatomical pathology.

Prof. Pieter WA Meyer

Prof. Pieter Meyer Pieter Meyer is a C-rated NRF Medical Scientist researcher with a PhD in Medical Immunology (University of Pretoria, 2011). His present research interest centres on both novel proteomic biomarkers and associated molecular indices in Rheumatoid Arthritis to identify disease severity, progression, treatment efficacy and comorbidities.

He has over 30 years extensive expertise in Allergology, Autoimmunity, Transplantation, Immunophenotyping and diagnosis of infectious diseases and manages the Department of Immunology’s under and postgraduate academic teaching and researcher programs in the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria.

Prof Meyer have authored over 30 publications in peer-reviewed journals with an average 30 citations per year in the last 5 years (h-index=10).

Prof. Nigel Crowther

Prof Nigel Crowther obtained a BSc honours degree in biochemistry in 1985 and a PhD in 1990 both at the University of Sussex, England. In 1995, after 5-years as a postdoctoral scientist in the Department of Clinical Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, he took up a joint Wits-NHLS post in the Department of Chemical Pathology. He is now a principal medical scientist and was promoted to research professor in February 2016. He has published 179 research articles and has acted as a supervisor or co-supervisor of 26 PhD and 16 masters students.

His research interests include the early life origins of type 2 diabetes, the aetiology and epidemiology of obesity-associated diseases, the cardiometabolic effects of body fat distribution, the molecular control of intra-cellular lipid accumulation, the aetiology of type 1 diabetes, the cardiometabolic effects of HIV infection and therapy and the contribution of the menopausal transition to cardiometabolic disease risk.

Dr. Ruth Rankapole

Dr. Ruth Rankapole is currently working as a Haemato-pathologist and Lecturer at NHLS Polokwane Hospital & University of Limpopo Academic Complex. She is a qualified Medical Technologist (Haem) from TUT; obtained MBCHB (Medunsa); MMed (Haemato-pathology) from University of Limpopo; has postgraduate diploma in Health Economics (UCT).

She worked as a lecturer and pathologist at Dr George Mukhari Hospital-Sefako Makgatho Academic Complex. At SANBS as Haematologist and Lead Consultant in Transfusion Services. She is a SANAS technical auditor/expert in Medical Labs for ISO 15189 and Testing Labs for ISO 17025; member of SANAS specialist technical committee(STC) for Blood Transfusion.

She is also a member of: University of Limpopo School Senior Degrees Committee and Research & Ethics Committee(SREC); Regional NHLS Limpopo-Mpumalanga Pathology Management Committee (PMC) and National and Regional NHLS Internal Audit Team.

Prof. Felicity Burt

Prof. Felicity Burt is a Principal Medical Scientist in the Division of Virology at NHLS Universitas and the University of the Free State. She currently holds a South African Research Chair (SARChI) in Vector Borne and Zoonotic Pathogens Research. Her research focuses on detection, pathogenesis and molecular epidemiology of medically significant arboviruses and viral haemorrhagic fevers found in southern Africa. Her interests and expertise are on host immune responses to arboviral infections specifically characterizing humoral and cellular immune responses in patients; epitope discovery for development of diagnostic tools; development of molecular and serological assays for surveillance purposes; virus discovery; and development of vaccines against medically significant arboviruses. She is responsible for the biosafety level 3 facility at the University established primarily for handling zoonotic and arboviral pathogens. She has supervised 40 postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows and has more than 90 publications in international peer reviewed journals.

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