DSI/ NRF South Africa Research (SARChI) Chair in Clinical Neuroscience Research

Areas of interest

Paediatric neurosurgery

Paediatric neuro-oncology

Neurotrauma

Advanced neurocritical care

Professional affiliations

President-elect, Society of Neurosurgeons of South Africa (2021-2023)

International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery (Scientific chair 216-2018, Secretary 2019-2022)

International Neurotrauma Society Past President (2016-2018) and executive board

Critical Care Society of South Africa

International Society for Intraoperative Neurophysiology (Executive Board 2013-2017, Chair of the 2013 Congress)

Founder member, Global Neuro (2017-)

Member of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa (2020-)

World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies 2023 Scientific Chair

Biosketch

I have been privileged to lead the longest-standing paediatric neurosurgery group in Africa, founded and led first by Prof Warwick Peacock, followed by Professor Jonathan Peter, and then Graham Fieggen, from whom I took over in 2009. I believe passionately in advancing high level clinical services by innovating and introducing new techniques and approaches, such as advanced neurocritical care in children, in which we have become world leaders, and intraoperative neurophysiology, which had not been available in Africa, and in so doing increased our capacity to more aggressively operate on brain and spinal cord tumours, as well as other conditions, with better safety margins. I also believe strongly in strengthening research capacity in Surgery to better understand the clinical conditions we treat and the therapies that we use, always with the aim of improving outcomes for our patients. In this, I have been privileged to lead a dynamic and diverse research group that emphasizes interdisciplinarity and exciting bench-to-bedside translational work. We have named this group the African Brain Child initiative (https://africanbrainchild.com/), which highlights our aim to be world leaders in improving outcomes for children with neurological conditions, from Africa.