Five Emerging Researchers Honoured by Dean for Best Publications
The five emerging research awardees are pictured with Associate Professor Lionel Green-Thompson, Dean of the University of Cape Town’s Faculty of Health Sciences. From left to right, the award recipients are: Dr Camryn Terblachne, Dr Catherine Wedderburn, Ms Rachel Brown, Dr Mereille Porter and Dr Michele Tomassichio. Photographer: Azania Mpendukane.
The Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS), Associate Professor Lionel Green-Thompson, recently honoured five emerging researchers — two early career and three postgraduates — for earning the Faculty of Health Sciences ‘Best Publication Awards’ for 2025.
Established in 2019, the Best Publications Awards annually recognises emerging researchers whose work has been published in high-quality journals within their discipline. This year’s recipients were Ms Rachel Brown, Dr Michele Tomassichio, Dr Catherine Wedderburn, Dr Mereille Porter and Dr Camryn Terblanche.
The awardees were deemed by the FHS’ selection panel (senior academics in the basic sciences, public health, and health and rehabilitation sciences) to have produced the most outstanding, original work. They will each receive R5 000 to R10 000 in prize money.
The Dean invited the awardees and their supervisors to a session in his suite to congratulate them and grant them the opportunity to share what their research was on. Their curiosity and intellectual rigour are an inspiration, and the FHS wishes them well in their future ventures.
- Ms Rachel Brown was awarded in the Basic Laboratory Sciences category for her publication titled “Progress and Potential of Brain Organoids in Epilepsy Research”.
- Dr Michele Tomasicchio was the joint awardee in the Basic Laboratory Sciences category. His publication “SARS-CoV-2 Viral Replication Persists in the Human Lung for Several Weeks after Symptom Onset”.
- Dr Catherine Wedderburn earned a prize in the Clinical Sciences category for her study titled “Association of in Utero HIV Exposure with Child Brain Structure and Language Development: A South African Birth Cohort Study”.
- Dr Mereille Porter was jointly awarded in the Clinical Sciences category for her publication titled “First-Line Antituberculosis Drug Challenge Reactions in Drug Reaction With Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms Syndrome in an HIV Endemic Setting”.
- Dr Camryn Terblanche’s winning publication in the Public Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and Health Science Education category is titled “The Development of Synthetic Child Speech in Three South African Languages”.