Dear Staff and Student Colleagues

Please join me in congratulating Associate Professor Rene Krause on her appointment as Head of Division: Interdisciplinary Palliative Care and Medicine (IPCM) in the Department of Family, Community and Emergency Care (FaCE).

A/Prof Krause joined the Division of Interdisciplinary Palliative Care Medicine as a Senior Lecturer in 2014 and took up the role of acting Head of Division (HODiv) when Dr Liz Gwyther retired at the end of 2020. She has since continued to undertake all the responsibilities of the HODiv, overseeing the daily academic, clinical, research and service functions of the Division. Furthermore, she has continued guiding and directing the strategic focus of the Division with excellence, commitment and vision. She has also been essential to developing the strategic mission of the FaCE Department, within which IPCM resides.

A/Prof Krause is a specialist Family Physician with a wealth of experience and academic qualifications: an MBChB (UFS) 1998; MFamMed (UFS) 2004; MPhil Palliative Medicine (UCT) 2010; and PGDip Health Professional Education (Cum Laude) (UCT) 2015. Her recent Ad Hominem promotion application for the designation of Associate Professor demonstrated her expert leadership within the discipline and the university setting. Additionally, she has a proven track record of research, including a substantial history of publications, and she recently submitted her PhD thesis.

Throughout her career, she has significantly contributed to advancing palliative care at local, national and international levels. She has been instrumental in the recent approval by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) of a sub-speciality in Palliative Medicine through an MPhil in South Africa, bringing us in line with an international shift towards recognising Palliative Medicine as a growing field and an unmet need worldwide, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

I wish A/Prof Krause well in her tenure as HODiv and look forward to her further strengthening the foundation and growth of both the Division and Department.

Kaise ke gangans
Associate Professor Lionel Green-Thompson
Dean: Faculty of Health Sciences