Professor Collet Dandara holds a BSc, BSc (Hons) and PhD from the University of Zimbabwe.  He is trained in pharmacogenetics at the University of Karolinska as part of his PhD.  He joined UCT in 2003 as a Postdoctoral Fellow and left to join the University of Witwatersrand as a lecturer in 2008. 

In 2009, he came back to UCT as a Senior Lecturer, rising through the ranks to Professor. He is registered by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). Collet joined the Faculty of Health Sciences Transformations and Equity Committee (TEC) in 2010, and in 2014 became its Chair, representing the faculty on the then University Transformation Advisory Committee (UTAC). Collet has been a member of the Faculty of Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee (HREC) since 2012. He has convened the Human Genetics Honours program from 2011 until 2017 and was integral in the introduction of a new honours stream, Honours in Forensic Genetics, in 2012.

Professor Collet Dandara leads an active research group which was recently awarded an extramural unit by the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC). The Extramural unit is named “Platform for Pharmacogenomics Research and Translation” and focuses on genomics particularly genetic susceptibility to diseases and pharmacogenomics. As recognition of his contribution in pharmacogenomics, Professor Dandara serves in the “Pharmacogenetics subcommittee of the International Union of Pharmacology (IUPHAR) and serves on the International Advisory Committee of the Human Genome Organisation (HUGO). In 2012, Professor Dandara was nominated as a Young Affiliate the World Academy of Science (TWAS), becoming the inaugural Secretary of the Young Affiliate/Alumni group (TYAN) from 2016 to 2021. Nationally, Professor Dandara is C-rated by the NRF. Collet is a full member of the Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine (IDM) and a contributing Investigator for CIDRI Africa.

Professor Dandara has a track record of successful supervision to graduation of postgraduate students (Honours, MSc and PhD) level, with over 60 students graduated (> 30 Honours, about 20 MSc and > 10 PhD). His research group regularly hosts Postdoctoral Research Fellows, contributing to human capacity development, and in 2014 his contribution to human capacity development was acknowledged by being a Finalist in the NSTF-Bilton Awards. Collet is widely published with over 160 publications in international peer-reviewed journals and an H-index of 35/30 (Google Scholar/Scopus). He has a fair understanding of the higher education landscape nationally and serves on the Board of the South African Medical Research Council.

He is an executive Committee member of the African Society for Human Genetics (AfSHG) and a founding member of the African Pharmacogenomics Network (APN). In 2021, he became the Chair of the Southern African Society for Human Genetics (SASHG). Professor Dandara has a passion for the dissemination of knowledge particularly through the mentorship of emerging academics/colleagues, and through the career guidance of high school learners in Cape Town and his rural home.