Dear Staff and Student Colleagues 

Groote Schuur Hospital (GSH) has shared a close and critical partnership with UCT in the delivery of education, research and clinical services for over 100 years. There have been several achievements as well as challenges in our joint environments and strong relationships have been forged at the interface between health professionals and students, through to the leadership of our institutions. I warmly welcome two new appointments (since 1 February 2024) to the leadership of Groote Schuur Hospital: Dr Shaheem de Vries as Chief Executive Officer and Dr Jayshina (Jay) Punwasi as Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Both, I am proud to mention, are products of UCT! 

Dr de Vries succeeds retired CEO Dr Bhavna Patel. He comes to the role as a medical doctor with more than 20 years’ experience in leading teams in complex environments within the public healthcare system. He holds an MBChB from UCT, a Diploma in Primary Emergency Care from the College of Medicine South Africa, a Master’s in Emergency Medicine and an executive MBA from UCT. 

Before his appointment as CEO, Dr de Vries was the Head of the Western Cape Government Emergency Medical Services from 2013 to 2022. He was also a charter member of the African Federation for Emergency Medicine and served as its CEO from 2016 to 2019. Impressively, he has emerged as one of the global Emergency Medical Service experts to the WHO Emergency Care Systems Working Group.

Outside of healthcare, he is a runner and keen cyclist and can be found alongside a school pool or sports field, embarrassing his son and daughter as one of “those” parents.

Dr Punwasi is a healthcare manager and leader whose purpose is to provide value-based healthcare within the public sector in South Africa. She holds an MBChB (UCT) and an MBA (University of the Witwatersrand). With a strong desire to learn and improve, Dr Punwasi has a history of working in the public sector managing different levels of hospitals as well as in the private sector in the field of management consulting. Her personal philosophy is to Be the change you wish to see in the world (Mahatma Gandhi).

Beyond GSH, Dr Punwasi is the wife of a university professor, the mother of two daughters, a business and life coach, and a student and teacher in Vedic philosophy. She succeeds Dr Bernadette Eick.

Both Dr de Vries and Dr Punwasi have a deep understanding of the challenges facing the public health sector and there is no doubt that Groote Schuur Hospital will be ably steered under their management. We look forward to an exciting and generative relationship in which the complexities of health in the Western Cape and its shared education responsibility are managed and solved in ways that bring better outcomes for our people.

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