Six researchers from the Faculty of Health Sciences were awarded the Best Publication Award at the faculty’s Research Forum which took place at the Neurosciences Institute on 17 October 2024. The awards were split into two categories: a postgraduate prize for students registered for a PhD at the time of their publication and an early-career prize for researchers with PhDs.

The purpose of the award is to recognise early research career fellows who publish their work in high quality journals within their discipline.

For both prizes, authors could apply for one of three categories: basic sciences, clinical sciences and public health and rehabilitation sciences.

Applications are reviewed by the Faculty Research Sub-Committee of senior academics representing the categories. Reviewers use a comprehensive score sheet in each category which requires applicants to be the first author or acknowledged as the principal author of the publication.

Early-career awards

Basic laboratory sciences
Dr Vitaris Kodogo, postdoctoral research fellow, Cape Heart Institute.
Paper:  Proteomic Profiling in Patients With Peripartum Cardiomyopathy: A Biomarker Study of the ESC EORP PPCM Registry

Clinical sciences
Associate Professor Aliasgar Esmail, Division of Pulmonology, Department of Medicine.
Paper: Comparison of two diagnostic intervention packages for community-based active case finding for tuberculosis: an open-label randomized controlled trial
 

Public health and rehabilitation sciences
Associate Professor Esmita Charani, Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine, Department of Medicine.
Paper: The use of imagery in global health: an analysis of infectious disease documents and a framework to guide practice

Postgraduate awards
 

Basic laboratory sciences
Ms Lwanda Buthelezi, Department of Pulmonology
Paper: Antisense therapy for infectious diseases
 

Clinical sciences
Associate Professor Marc Hendricks, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health.
Paper: Socioeconomic status significantly impacts childhood cancer survival in South Africa
 

Public health and rehabilitation sciences
Ms Fadia Gamieldien, Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Alan J. Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health, Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences: Division of Occupational Therapy.
Paper: Mental Health Service Users and Their Caregivers Perspectives on Personal Recovery from Severe Mental Health Conditions in Cape Town, South Africa: A Qualitative Study