Staff

Head of Division

Professor Marc Mendelson

Marc trained in medicine at St Mary’s Hospital London and undertook his PhD at Cambridge University before completing Infectious Diseases training at Addenbrookes Hospital Cambridge and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His postgraduate studies were at The Rockefeller University in New York before moving to University of Cape Town in 2001 to work on tuberculosis and innate immunity. In 2007, he started the Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine at UCT, which became the first GeoSentinnel Travel Surveillance Network in Africa in 2008, and a National Antimicrobial Stewardship Training Centre in 2014. He was the founding co-chair of the South African Antibiotic Stewardship Programme and has acted as chair of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance since 2014. His focus is on national and international policy in relation to Antimicrobial Resistance and is on the WHO’s Expert Advisory Panel on Drug Evaluation and multiple WHO Technical Advisory Panels on AMR and Guideline Development Groups for AMR and COVID-19. He is chair of the Vivli Open Access Antimicrobial Data Program’s Scientific Advisory Group and a member of the GARDP’s scientific advisory committee and the G20 AMR Hub Stakeholders’ Group. Marc has held the offices of Presidency of the Infectious Diseases Society of Southern Africa, the Federation of Infectious Diseases Societies of Southern Africa, and the International Society for Infectious Diseases. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa in 2021.

 

Professor Linda-Gail Bekker

Professor Linda-Gail Bekker is the Director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine and the Department of Medicine, University of Cape Town and Chief Executive Officer of the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation. She is an NRF A-rated physician scientist and specialist in HIV and related infectious diseases. Her research interests include programmatic and action research around antiretroviral roll out and TB integration, prevention of HIV in women, youth and MSM. Bekker is involved in several COVID19 vaccine trials and co-leads the Sisonke Phase 3B study which has seen the vaccination of 500 000 health care workers in South Africa. She is a past president of the International AIDS Society (2016-2018).

Consultants

Associate Professor Sipho Dlamini

Sipho Dlamini completed his medical degree, Internal Medicine training and specialist Infectious Disease training at the University of Cape Town and Colleges of Medicine South Africa. His research interests are in HIV and Tuberculosis, the use of vaccines in persons living with HIV infection and on immune-mediated drug hypersensitivity reactions in persons living with HIV. Sipho’s research and clinical activities have provided him an opportunity to be involved many projects such as a study that identified a new dimorphic fungal infection (Emergomycosis africanus) in persons living with HIV. Professional memberships include FIDSSA, the Colleges of Medicine South Africa (CMSA) and the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID). Serves as a member of the National Immunisation Safety Expert Committee (NISEC) an advisory committee to the Minister of Health in South Africa, and member of the Professional Affairs Subcommittee (PAS) for ESCMID.

 

Dr Nectarios Papavarnavas

Dr Nectarios Papavarnavas

Dr Tari Papavarnavas completed his medical degree at University of Pretoria and trained in General Internal Medicine and subsequently in Infectious Diseases at University of Cape Town.

He was appointed as an Infectious Diseases sub-specialist in the Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine at UCT in 2022. He is the head of the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) service at Groote Schuur Hospital and in partnership with IPC nurses, Occupational Health practitioners, and ward liaisons his aim is to build a comprehensive IPC program.

Tari has also taken over as Director of the Cape Town GeoSentinel Travel Surveillance Network Site, which surveys travellers from South Africa and those visiting from abroad who act as sentinels for emerging and re-emerging infections.

Phiona

Dr Phiona .E. Namale

Phiona is an Infectious diseases Physician who trained at the University of Cape Town.  She obtained her medical degree from Makerere University in Uganda and did Internal Medicine training at the University of Cape Town and Colleges of Medicine South Africa.

She has a passion for clinical research and evidence-based medicine. She has a Master of Public Health from the University of Cape Town and is currently undertaking PhD studies nested in a clinical trial investigating novel treatment strategies for hospitalized patients with HIV associated disseminated TB. She is the lead investigator of this clinical trial.

Phiona’s interest in HIV and research led to her participation in the HIV observership, Arthur Ashe Endowment for the Defeat of AIDS in in New York City in 2020 and involvement in the VOICE 2022 HIV clinical research training programme. She joined the infectious Diseases Division in 2024 and is tasked with leading the academic and education programme within the division. She is leading the  infectious diseases collaboration with the Renal Transplant unit at Groote Schuur focusing on infection complications and antibiotic stewardship.

Adjunct Positions

Associate Professor Sean Wasserman

Sean Wasserman completed his MBChB and PhD at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and obtained specialist qualifications in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa. Sean was a consultant in infectious diseases at Groote Schuur Hospital from 2019 to 2023, and recently took up a position as Reader in Infectious Diseases in the Institute for Infection and Immunity at St George’s, University of London.

Sean is a Principal Investigator at the Discovery Platform for Infectious Diseases Research in Africa (CIDRI-Africa) at UCT with a research programme on treatment optimisation for tuberculosis and advanced HIV disease.

Current trials include PRESCIENT, a multi-centre Phase 2c trial of an ultra-short regimen for drug- susceptible pulmonary TB (NCT05556746); REVIVE, a multi-country Phase 3 trial of azithromycin prophylaxis for advanced HIV (NCT05580666); an ACTG study evaluating the use of double dose dolutegravir with rifapentine-based therapy for HIV-associated TB (NCT05630872) and a Phase 2 trial investigating adjunctive rezafungin for pneumocystis pneumonia (NCT05835479). Sean is an investigator on the IMPRINT Fungal HIV Global Health Research Group where he leads a cohort study on pneumocystis pneumonia. He also leads a research site in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa investigating predictors of treatment outcome for drug-resistant TB.

Website links:

St George’s, University of London

https://www.sgul.ac.uk/profiles/sean-wasserman

Infectious Diseases Fellow

Dr Ying Zhao

Ying Zhao completed her MBBCh at the University of the Witwatersrand. She specialized in Internal Medicine and obtained her FCP (SA) in 2019. She enrolled at the University of Cape Town as a Doctoral student in 2020. Her PhD focuses on addressing challenges with the; transition to dolutegravir-based antiretroviral therapy in sub-Saharan Africa. Her research interests centre around drug-resistant tuberculosis and antiretroviral therapy in resource-limited settings. Ying joins the Infectious Diseases training programme at UCT as the 14th ID Fellow since the inception of the Division in 2007.

 

Dr Priya Arnab

Dr Priadarshini Arnab

Priya completed her undergraduate degree from the University of Cape Town and returned to finish her FCP in 2022. Her MMed explored the neuropsychiatric effects of efavirenz toxicity. She is also a rotating consultant for Groote Schuur’s general medical team.

 

 

 

Divisional Administrator

Mrs. Faikah Davids

Faikah joined the Division in January 2018. In this position she provides administrative support across the unit to all staff and the Head of Division. She is the point of contact for enquiries for visiting academics and staff. She arrangers staff travel, payments, conferences, grant applications, purchases, and all staff contracts. She also has a background in clinical research administration, data administration, website support, Good clinical practice, Redcap. Previous positions have included part-time Secretary to Head of Department of Medicine at the University of Cape town over a period of 3 years and Clinical Research Assistant in the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at UCT over a period of 13 years where she provided administrative support for all Clinical Trials, to staff in the CCOAT hub, Data administrator, Website support for Global Health Trials, and part-time data administrator for the Clinical Research Centre at University of Cape town.

Research Staff

Associate Professor Esmita Charani

Esmita is an Associate Professor at the University of Cape Town where she is undertaking a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship on intersectional research in antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the PROTEA study, across South Africa and India. She is the Co-Principal Investigator of CAMO-Net South Africa Hub. In the UK, she is an Honorary Reader in Infectious Diseases, AMR and Global Health at the University of Liverpool. Her work in AMR has been recognised through the Academy of Medical Sciences UK-India AMR Visiting Professor Award. She is involved in mentoring and supporting clinical pharmacists and researchers across different healthcare settings and economies in implementing antimicrobial stewardship interventions.

Candice Bonaconsa

Mrs. Candice Bonaconsa

Candice Bonaconsa is a researcher in the Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine (UCT) since 2019. Prior to this she worked as a clinical nurse in a paediatric setting, followed by a research position with the Child Nurse Practice Development Initiative in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health (UCT). Recently she completed work on the ASPIRES study (Antibiotic use across Surgical Pathways - Investigating, Redesigning and Evaluating Systems) conducted at Groote Schuur Hospital. This study aimed to investigate the cultural norms, established hierarchies, team roles and methods of communication around antibiotic stewardship and infection prevention and control which operate within the surgical pathway. Currently she is doing a PhD focused on applying novel qualitative approaches to study communication and its impact on team dynamics in relation to infection related decision making. Candice has a keen interest in using and developing visual methods to make visible the practice of everyday doing in clinical settings. She is registered nurse with a Master’s in Nursing from the University of Cape Town.

katrina

Dr Katrina Jo Downing

MSc (Biotechnology); PhD (Microbiology); MPH

CAMO-Net South Africa Project Manager

With over 20 years of experience in research and public health in academic institutions, Katrina holds an MSc in Biotechnology from the University of Witwatersrand, a PhD in Microbiology (Molecular Biology) from the University of Cape Town (UCT), and a Master of Public Health degree from UCT. Her post-doctoral training in the field of TB candidate vaccine development provided the background for her role as Project Manager on HPV and HIV vaccine development projects, large-scale, multi-site clinical trials of new TB vaccines and drugs, a multi-centre systems biology project and more recently, a scoping project for the establishment of a research hub to provide scientific and technical support on evidence-based, decision-making on vaccines in WHO Africa member countries. Over the 13 years as the project manager on these South-South and North-South collaborative projects, Katrina gained extensive experience interacting with academic research groups, multiple clinical trial site teams, research and governmental organisations in South Africa, other African countries, the UK, the USA, and Europe. She has also dealt with large international funders such as Wellcome Trust, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, NIH DAIDS, and the EDCTP. This experience was supported by her formal qualifications and training in Project Management and Programme Management (Monitoring and Evaluation), together with training in Good Clinical Practice, Good Clinical Laboratory Practice and Good Laboratory Practice.

Katrina’s personal interests and hobbies include ballet dancing, Pilates, Functional training Yin Yoga, and cooking.

samkele

Samkele Mkumbuzi

Samkele is a research officer on the Centres for Antimicrobial Optimisation network (CAMO-net) and Power Relations in Optimisation of Therapies and Equity in Access to Antibiotics (PROTEA) studies. Samkele completed his Bachelor of Pharmacy from the University of the Witwatersrand. He was awarded a Community Service award by the Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa for his contribution to a youth-led NPO Primary Healthcare clinic providing free health services in Central Johannesburg.

Samkele holds multifaceted experience in coordinating Antimicrobial Stewardship operations at hospital and district level. Samkele has served as a member of the Provincial Pharmacovigilance Committee in the Eastern Cape Department of Health where he demonstrated his dedication to excellent pharmaceutical care by contributing to primary and tertiary care formulary development and leading the Causality Assessment team for Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Samkele’s dedication to education extends to his involvement in health promotion & training programs for healthcare professionals, where he shares his expertise in Antimicrobial Stewardship. Currently pursuing a Master’s in Public Health at the University of Cape Town, Samkele’s research interest is in Policy implementation and optimizing the use of antibiotics by enhancing the utility of Antimicrobial Resistance surveillance systems.

Andiswa Kona

Andiswa Kona

Andiswa Kona is a Social Scientist with a background in Community Development. She holds a Master of Philosophy in Social Policy from the University of Johannesburg. She has conducted community-based, qualitative and people-centred research with Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs) in Orange Farm, Soweto and Kliptown, Johannesburg, South Africa. Andiswa has also worked with women, children and youth impacted by TB, HIV/AIDS, mental and physical disabilities. Andiswa has also conducted research in Durban, KwaZulu Natal and Thohoyandou, Limpopo Province. Andiswa has explored the socio-political economy of the paid and unpaid burden of care, the platform economy, social reproduction and access to public transport in urban and peri-urban settings.

Andiswa takes interest in the plight of marginalized populations such as black people, the unemployed and informal workers. She explores the social determinants of health in township settings. She has done this through ethnographic Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) research with youth and local governance structures in Cape Town, South Africa and Lusaka, Zambia. Her ethnographic experience has provided her with a nuanced understanding of the realities and experiences of those vulnerable to health inequity in the post-colonial and post-apartheid decolonial moment.

Her work reflects an interest in understanding race, gender, class, social origin, etc, through the untold stories of intersectionality. She does this by employing an African Feminist lens; where she is part of creating safe spaces for the marginalised to have voices, be heard and to never be ignored, regardless of their identity. Andiswa seeks to make contributions in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially where she is grounded in South Africa and Southern Africa. Andiswa builds resilience by maintaining her wellbeing through reading, journaling and connecting with nature.

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Tlangelani

Mr. Tlangelani Makamu

Mr. Tlangelani Makamu is a Research Officer at the Centres for Antimicrobial Optimisation Network (CAMO-Net) in the Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Cape Town. His work spans multiple research projects in public health, science, technology, innovation, and development. Passionate about using evidence to tackle social and health challenges, he aims to contribute to improving lives and communities. He received the NRF-DSI Master’s Innovation Scholarship, focusing on priority research areas outlined by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI).

 

Honorary Members of the Division

Honorary Professor Robert Wilkinson

Robert J Wilkinson is a Physician Scientist interested in the understanding and management of tuberculosis and HIV-tuberculosis. He is an employee of Imperial College London and, via partial secondment, directs the Wellcome Centre for Infectious Diseases in Africa. Publications number ~400, cited ~22000 times (ISI) of which 73 have been cited more than 73 times https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=wilkinson-rj&sort=date). Recognitions include Wellcome Senior Fellowships; A1 rating by NRF (South Africa); Gold medal South African MRC; Scientific prize IUATLD; election to the UK’s Academy of Medical Sciences and a Principal Group leadership of the Francis Crick Institute, London.

 

Honorary Professor Chris Butler

Chris Butler, a GP researcher, trained in medicine at the University of Cape Town, and for a time was a medical registrar at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital: he did doctoral work at the University of Wales College of Medicine, and studied Clinical Epidemiology at The University of Toronto.  He is now a Professorial Fellow at Trinity College, Oxford, Professor of Primary Care at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford and is the Clinical Director of the University of Oxford Primary Care Clinical Trials Unit.  He chairs the Longitude Prize Advisory Panel, is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and a Senior Investigator of the National Institute of Health Research.  His main research interests are in common infections (especially the appropriate use of antibiotics and antivirals, diagnostics, and antimicrobial resistance), and health behaviour change (especially motivational interviewing in health care). He has expertise in clinical trials, cohort studies, qualitative research, and analysis of routinely collected data.He has led or helped lead >30 randomised controls trials in primary care and currently co-leads the UK National Urgent Public Health Priority Platform Randomised Trial of community treatments for Covid-19 (PRINCIPLE: randomised 7 agents under study) and the UK national priority trial, Platform Adaptive trial of Novel antivirals for early treatment of covid-19 In the Community (PANORAMIC).  Between them, PANORAMIC and PRINCIPLE have randomised >38,000 participants with COVID-19. Chris leads for primary care in the European Clinical Research Alliance on Infections Diseases (ECRIAD), and he  is the coordinator of  ECRAID-Prime, an EU funded platform for earlier phase COVID trials. Chris was the patient-nominated Royal College of General Practitioners Wales General Practitioner or the Year in 2019, and won the Royal College of GPs Research Paper of the year in 2020. He has published >400 scientific papers.

 

Honorary Associate Professor Katalin Wilkinson

Principal Research Scientist at The Francis Crick Institute London; Honorary Associate Professor, Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London; Honorary Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Cape Town.Her research focuses on the immunology of HIV-associated tuberculosis (TB). More specifically, the reconstitution of the immune response during antiretroviral treatment, to identify correlates of protection and pathogenesis (such as the Tuberculosis-Associated Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome, TB-IRIS); the biosignature of the TB infection spectrum, from latent infection to active disease; preventing TB infection in HIV infected people more effectively; and the pathogenesis of tuberculous meningitis and pericarditis. More recently, her research also included understanding the T cell response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination in patients with cancer.

 

Prof Mirfin Mpundu

Honorary Senior Lecturer Prof Mirfin Mpundu

Prof. Mirfin Mpundu is a public health expert with over 25 years of global leadership experience in infectious diseases, global health security, AMR and gender, pharmaceutical supply chain management, One Health, and international health policy and diplomacy. As the Executive Director of ReAct Africa, he has successfully supported several countries in developing and implementing their AMR Strategies and policies including AMR National Action Plans for over 10 years. He has and continues to provide technical support on AMR strategies and policies to organizations such as the WHO, FAO, WAOH, Africa CDC, and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and African countries. His passion on equitable access has led him to successfully implement innovative Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs in various hospitals across Africa. Prof. Mpundu also holds consultancy roles with the World Bank and USAID, offering his expertise in AMR. During his tenure as Partnerships & Stakeholder Engagement Lead for ICARS in Africa he pioneered ICARS work roll out in Africa and led flagship programs in stewardship and biosecurity in Zambia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zanzibar and . His tenure as Executive Director of the Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network (EPN) highlights his leadership in improving access to essential medicines in faith-based health facilities in Africa and pioneered a successful pooled procurement system for 4 East African Countries faith-based systems.

Since 2016, Prof. Mpundu has actively engaged students at all educational levels in AMR awareness, innovation and action, including the formation of One-Health student clubs and the Antimicrobial Resistance Leaders Program for Tertiary Students in Africa (AMRLEP), aimed at nurturing "AMR champions". He has recently been appointed Professor in Global Health at the Global Institute of Public Health, Ananthapuri Hospitals and Research Institute, GIPH is affiliated to Kerala University of Health Sciences, He completed his Doctoral studies in Public Health and a Master's in Public Health from Walden University, USA, an MBA from Northwood University USA, and a Bachelor's in Pharmacy from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania He brings a wealth of educational background to his work in public health and AMR and has supervised both masters and doctoral students at different universities in Africa and the USA.

 

Honorary Research Associate Dr Salim Parker

Salim Parker is a travel medicine and general practitioner. He is the past president of the South African Society of Travel Medicine (SASTM) and serves on the Liaison Committee of the International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM). He collaborates with the Global Centre for Mass Gathering Medicine (GCMGM) and co-authored the Hajj Travel chapter in the 2020 edition of the CDC Yellow Book, as well as for the upcoming 2023 edition.

 

 

 

 

Honorary Research Associate Dr Helen Struthers

DrHelen Struthers is the Executive Officer of the Anova Health Institute (Anova) and an Honorary Research Associate in the Division of Infectious Diseases & HIV Medicine, Department of Medicine at the University of Cape Town. Anova an independent not for profit research and technical assistance organization, established to improve health through its focus on people infected with or infected by HIV, particularly in developing countries. Dr Struthers has been instrumental in scaling up access to HIV services in the public sector, through leading teams throughout South Africa in close partnership with the Department of Health and other development partners. Dr Struthers has a particular research interest in the intersection of men and the HIV epidemic, in particular MSM.Dr Struthers has been involved in and encouraged research activities in this field as it has been largely neglected in Africa.

 

Honorary Research Associate - Dr Dena van den Bergh

Dr Dena van den Bergh has over 30 years of healthcare experience as an executive with large multinational hospital and healthcare organisations in which she pioneered and led large-scale change to improve healthcare outcomes and efficiencies. With a doctoral degree in Engineering from Warwick University, a master’s degree in Pharmacology and a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree, her expertise spans a unique blend of healthcare knowledge, clinical know-how and systems engineering skills.

Dena now works independently with leaders, teams, and organisations to successfully implement health systems improvement co-designed with stakeholders. Dena is an honorary lecturer at UCT Dept. of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV. Her research interests include the design and implementation of collaborative large-scale change in healthcare including antimicrobial stewardship and infection prevention strategies across different healthcare settings as well as exploring the behavioural and qualitative requirements for effective change leadership in health systems improvement. In 2015 she was awarded the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Leadership in Quality Improvement in South Africa by Discovery Health. Dena is also an internationally certified coach, advanced Presenting and Theory U facilitator and certified Feminine PowerTM leader committed to advancing the role of women leaders in health systems change. Outside of work Dena is a dedicated yoga and wellness practitioner and loves spending time with her family in nature.

 

Activities

The Division of infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine at University of Cape Town was founded in 2007, two years after the recognition of Infectious Diseases as a sub-specialty of Medicine in South Africa. The Division encompasses the Clinical Unit at Groote Schuur Hospital and two independent research centres, The Centre for Infectious Diseases Research Initiative-Africa (CIDRI-Africa) directed by Professor Robert Wilkinson, and the Desmond Tutu HIV Center (DTHC) directed by Professor Linda-Gail Bekker. It became the first GeoSentinnel Travel Surveillance Network Site in Africa in 2008 and one of two National Training Centres for Antimicrobial Stewardship in 2014.

Clinical Services

The clinical unit at Groote Schuur Hospital provides an inpatient consult service to the hospital with daily consultant-led ward rounds and a joint care management strategy to continue input until discharge. Between 500-750 consultations are undertaken annually. A tertiary level HIV outpatient clinic is undertaken weekly, seeing referrals from within GSH and from referring hospitals and clinics. The ID team perform outreach infectious diseases rounds at DP Marais Hospital, Brooklyn Chest Hospital, Mitchells Plain Hospital, and ad hoc service provision to Victoria, New Somerset, and False Bay hospitals. Antibiotic stewardship rounds are performed weekly in the departments of General Internal Medicine, Haematology, and Orthopaedics. The Division works seamlessly with National Health Laboratory Service colleagues in clinical microbiology and virology to ensure optimum diagnostic and antimicrobial stewardship.

A newly appointed sub-specialist in Infectious Diseases (Dr Nectarios Papavarnavas) now leads Groote Schuur Hospital’s Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) programme, with a team of three dedicated IPC practitioners.

Teaching and Training

The Division is the most prolific training centre for Infectious Diseases Fellows in South Africa, offering a 2-year MPhil training programme towards the Cert ID(SA)Phys examination and having trained 13 ID sub-specialists since 2007. It is a national training centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship, training doctor-nurse-pharmacist teams from hospitals across South Africa and on the African continent. We have also published guidelines for antibiotic prescribing in South Africa for the South African Antibiotic Stewardship Programme. The Division is a European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) Collaborating Centre, welcoming Infectious Diseases trainees from Europe for 1-month observerships in clinical infectious diseases.

A weekly academic programme is undertaken jointly with the departments of Clinical Microbiology and Virology, including blood culture rounds, Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Grand Rounds and a joint academic meeting to present cases, review leading publications and welcome national and international speakers. Talks from these meetings are uploaded onto the GSH Infectious Diseases YouTube Channel.

Members of the Division are involved in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in infectious diseases and HIV medicine for UCT, and we welcome multiple undergraduate elective students from across the world. For students wishing to undertake an undergraduate elective, we suggest applying to the UCT electives office one year prior to your preferred dates.

Research

The research activities of the Division focus on the major burden of infection in South Africa, namely HIV, tuberculosis, and antibiotic resistant bacterial infections. As a GeoSentinel Travel Surveillance Network Site, our research also includes surveillance for emerging and re-emerging infections in travellers. Notable firsts have been renal transplantation of HIV-infected donor kidneys to HIV-positive recipients (led by Professor Muller, Transplantation Surgery) and the first identification of Emmonsia africanus, a dimorphic fungal infection in advanced HIV-infection, the results of both being published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The combined research outputs of the Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine comprise the largest contribution of publications to the Faculty of Health Sciences.

The Wellcome Centre for Infectious Diseases Research in Africa (CIDRI-Africa) was established to foster investigator-led approaches into common continental infectious causes of morbidity and mortality while nurturing the next generation of researchers. Specialist expertise within CIDRI-Africa has predominantly focused on HIV-1, tuberculosis, and the interaction of these diseases. However, no infectious agent is excluded, as recently evidenced in our rapid redirection of resources to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, since South Africa and Africa face a rising non-communicable disease toll, the intersection of communicable and non-communicable morbidities constitutes a growing priority. The centre has 6 emeritus, 12 principal, 33 contributing investigators, 15 Fellows and 34 mentees.

The Desmond Tutu HIV Center pairs internationally acclaimed research with community-driven development programmes, striving to improve the health and wellbeing of communities it serves while contributing to local and national health policy. It has established clinical research sites with research that includes HIV prevention modalities, vaccine candidates, treatment delivery and adherence , clinical trials, ground-breaking new drugs, and innovation technologies to address tuberculosis transmission. In addition, a socio-behavioural division seeks to understand the complex drivers affecting individual health-seeking behaviour.

 

Publications (last 3 years)

  1. P.M. van Leeuwen , J. du Toit , B. McMillan, N.S. Papavarnavas , et al, Bloodstream infections and colonization in hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients at a South African center: A retrospective analysis., Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (2025)
  2. Vaccine safety surveillance in South Africa through COVID-19: A journey to systems strengthening. Sankar C, Meyer JC, Schönfeldt M, Gunter H, Dawood H, Sekiti V, Pickard N, Mubaiwa L, Mawela D, Dlamini S, Peter J, Spencer D, Gray C, Patel V, Bamford L, Sehloho T, McCarthy K. Vaccine. 2025 Feb 6;46:126535. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2024.126535. Epub 2024 Dec 6.
  3. Mbamalu, O., C. Bonaconsa, S. Surendran, Papavarnavas NS, et al., Missed opportunities for hand hygiene at the patient's bedside: a pilot descriptive study.Journal of Hospital Infection, 2024. 147: p. 216-218.
  4. Comprised access to antibiotics - the growing problem of availability and responsible use. Tängdén T, Charani E. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2024 Dec 6:S1198-743X(24)00585-8. doi: 10.1016/j.cmi.2024.11.036. 
  5. First-Line Antituberculosis Drug Challenge Reactions in Drug Reaction With Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms Syndrome in an HIV Endemic Setting. Porter M, Smith R, Teixeira N, Thwala B, Choshi P, Phillips EJ, Meintjes G, Dlamini S, Peter JG, Lehloenya RJ.J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2024 Oct;12(10):2798-2808.e12. doi: 10.1016/j.jaip.2024.05.045. Epub 2024 Jun 7.
  6. WHO global research priorities for antimicrobial resistance in human health. Bertagnolio S, Dobreva Z, Centner CM, Olaru ID, Donà D, Burzo S, Huttner BD, Chaillon A, Gebreselassie N, Wi T, Hasso-Agopsowicz M, Allegranzi B, Sati H, Ivanovska V, Kothari KU, Balkhy HH, Cassini A, Hamers RL, Weezenbeek KV; WHO Research Agenda for AMR in Human Health Collaborators. Lancet Microbe. 2024 Nov;5(11):100902. doi: 10.1016/S2666-5247(24)00134-4. Epub 2024 Aug 13.
  7. Vaccines in the fight against antimicrobial resistance- perspectives from South Africa The Global Antibiotic Resistance Partnership- South Africa (GARP-SA) Group collaborators (the GARP-SA Collaborators) Brink A, Kgasi A, Musyoki A, Kagina B, Feldman C, Reddy D, du Toit E, Kalanxhi E, Meyer J, Impalli I, Schonfeldt M, Sibanda M, Schellack N, Skosana P, Essack S, Dlamini S, Ramsamy Y. S. Afr Med J. 2024;114(9):e2111.
  8. Efficacy and safety of higher dose rifampicin in adults with presumed drug-susceptible tuberculosis: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis. Haigh KA, Twabi HH, Boloko L, Namale PE, Lutje V, Nevitt S, Davies G. 2024 Oct 3;77:102857. doi: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2024.102857. eCollection 2024 Nov.
  9. Awareness of infection care terms among outpatients and carers in a public health facility: a cross-sectional survey. Useh ER, Mfeketo B, Mbengo O, Karangwa I, Pennel T, Boutall A, Maswime S, Pohl L, Charani E, Mendelson M, Mbamalu O. Wellcome Open Res. 2024 Oct 9;8:574. doi: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.20162.2. eCollection 2023.
  10. A systematic review of antibiotic drug shortages and the strategies employed for managing these shortages. Pandey AK, Cohn J, Nampoothiri V, Gadde U, Ghataure A, Kakkar AK, Gupta YK, Malhotra S, Mbamalu O, Mendelson M, Märtson AG, Singh S, Tängdén T, Shafiq N, Charani E. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2024 Sep 26:S1198-743X(24)00455-5. doi: 10.1016/j.cmi.2024.09.023. Online ahead of print.
  11. Accelerating antibiotic access and stewardship: a new model to safeguard public health. Cohn J, Mendelson M, Kanj SS, Shafiq N, Boszczowski I, Laxminarayan R. Lancet Infect Dis. 2024 Sep;24(9):e584-e590. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(24)00070-7. Epub 2024 Mar 11.
  12. Visual Mapping of Operating Theater Team Dynamics and Communication for Reflexive Feedback and Surgical Practice Optimization. Surendran S, Bonaconsa C, Nampoothiri V, Mbamalu O, George A, Mallick S, Ov S, Holmes A, Mendelson M, Singh S, Birgand G, Charani E. Ann Surg Open. 2024 Jul 17;5(3):e463. doi: 10.1097/AS9.0000000000000463. eCollection 2024 Sep.
  13. Power Relations in Optimisation of Therapies and Equity in Access to Antibiotics (PROTEA) Study: investigating the intersection of socio-economic and cultural drivers on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and its influence on healthcare access and health-providing behaviours in India and South Africa. Charani E, Dlamini S, Koch A, Singh S, Hodes R, Laxminarayan R, Batheja D, Ramugondo E, Mukherjee AS, Mendelson M. Wellcome Open Res. 2024 Jul 24;9:400. doi: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.20193.1. eCollection 2024.
  14. Ensuring progress on sustainable access to effective antibiotics at the 2024 UN General Assembly: a target-based approach. Mendelson M, Lewnard JA, Sharland M, Cook A, Pouwels KB, Alimi Y, Mpundu M, Wesangula E, Weese JS, Røttingen JA, Laxminarayan R. Lancet. 2024 Jun 8;403(10443):2551-2564. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(24)01019-5. Epub 2024 May 23.
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  32. Developing an antibiogram for empiric antibiotic prescribing for adult non-spinal orthopaedic infections in a developing world setting. Arakkal A, Centner CM, Hilton T, Nortje M, Held M, Roche S, Brink AJ, Mendelson M, Laubscher M. Eur J Orthop Surg Traumatol. 2024 Feb;34(2):815-821. doi: 10.1007/s00590-023-03718-4. Epub 2023 Sep 15.
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