Ad Hominem Promotion
Mrs Johannah Keikelame, the 4th year MBChB ‘Health in Context/Health Promotion’ Course Convenor, received ad hominem promotion to Senior Lecturer in November 2014. She is currently completing her PhD on “Perspectives on epilepsy on the part of patients and carers in a South African urban township”.

Responding to Ebola
Prof Reid initiated the call for a Dean’s Forum to discuss the faculty’s response to the Ebola epidemic in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, drawing Dr Kathryn Stinson and Gem Patten and Sarah Crawford-Browne into a panel discussion of their experiences in the affected region. Sarah Crawford-Browne who is a Lecturer in Culture, Psyche and Illness in the PHC Directorate and who has lived and worked in Sierra Leone went on to speak on the social, cultural and political factors that have come together to enable the rapid spread of the virus on panels at the UWC School of Public Health Journal Club, the Engen World AIDS Day and the AGM of the Western Cape branch of SASOM (SA Society of Occupational Health). She has supported her past Sierra Leonean colleagues from a distance as they developed plans for psychosocial programming and sought funding to respond to the epidemic. She is currently completing her PhD on ‘Meaning constructions about violence and psychological adjustment amongst women residing in a high violence community’.

New Staff
Dr Carla Tsampiras joined the Directorate in November 2014 as the Senior Lecturer in Medical Humanities. Dr Tsampiras is recognized as distinguished teacher at Rhodes University. She is a social historian with a specific interest in the intersections of racism, class and gender in health care provision and access, including the historical-political context of HIV.

Extension of the Teaching Platform
Plans are underway to extend the teaching platform to George and a new Site Coordinator has been appointed from February 2015 to administer to the needs of students and clinicians at the George Hospital Complex. The aim is to develop a ‘rural clinical school’ or UCT campus in George developed by the Faculty of Health Sciences but subsequently shared by other faculties to facilitate research and engagement by a wider range of UCT personnel in the area. The long-term goal is to introduce a ‘Longitudinal Integrated Model’ for a small group of 6th year medical students to reside in George for a full year in 2016 and then for a larger group to participate when the necessary infrastructure is in place. 2015 will see the proposal piloted with a few rotations of 6th year students doing 8-week block rotations in George to pave the way for the longitudinal model to be integrated.

New Sites
Retreat & Grassy Park and Heideveld will be utilized as new teaching and learning sites in 2015 with new Site Facilitators to be appointed from January 2015 to manage the “Health in Context’ 4th year course on campus and at these sites, together with the other existing sites managed by our Site Facilitators at Khayelitsha, Vanguard and Mitchell’s Plain.

The Baby Boom
Claudia Naidu who is a Research Officer in the Directorate gave birth to twin girls in July (Aisha and Asmaa) and is currently juggling motherhood with completing her PhD on “An evaluation of the development of social accountability of medical graduates at the University of Cape Town”. Christolene Beauzac, who is the Mitchell’s Plain Site Facilitator, is expecting a baby boy in April 2015 and is engaged with her PhD on “Regulating the body: health promotion and diabetes in the Western Cape, South Africa”.