Celebrating our five new PhD graduates
On the 9th of September 2025, the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town held its graduation ceremony in the historic Sarah Baartman Hall.
This year, we are thrilled to celebrate not one, but five of our team members who successfully completed their doctorates in pharmacometrics.
Noha Abdelgawad
Thesis title: “Addressing Challenges in the Treatment of Tuberculosis and Tuberculous Meningitis: A Pharmacometric Approach.”
Noha completed her BSc and MSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences at Helwan University, Egypt, before beginning her PhD at UCT in 2019. Her research applied pharmacometric modelling to study adherence and drug pharmacokinetics in both plasma and the central nervous system, generating important insights for optimising tuberculosis and tuberculosis meningitis therapies.
Manna Semere Gebreyesus
Thesis title: “Pharmacometrics to characterize pharmacokinetics and optimize treatment in understudied populations.”
Manna earned a Bachelor of Pharmacy from Asmara College of Health Sciences in Eritrea and an MPhil in Clinical Pharmacology from UCT. She joined the Pharmacometrics team as a Master’s student in 2019, later transitioning to a PhD in 2021. Her work applied modelling across multiple therapeutic areas to improve treatment in children, pregnant women, and patients from resource-limited settings, leading to dose recommendations and new insights into how physiological changes affect drug exposure.
Allan Kengo
Thesis title: “Nonlinear mixed-effects modelling of drug-drug interactions between antiretroviral therapy and tuberculosis treatment.”
Allan holds a Master’s in Pharmacology from Makerere University and joined UCT’s Pharmacometrics Group in 2021. His work used clinical data from Uganda and South Africa to investigate interactions between HIV and TB drugs, providing key insights to support safer and more effective treatment.
Lufina Tsirizani
Thesis title: “Pharmacometric modelling to optimize tuberculosis treatment and antiretroviral therapy in children.”
Lufina holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy and an MSc in Epidemiology from the University of Malawi. She joined the UCT Pharmacometrics team as a PhD student in 2019, and continued as a postdoctoral fellow at the start of this year. Her research evaluated TB and HIV drug exposure in children, identifying the impact of age, body size, and drug formulation, and providing practical strategies to improve paediatric dosing.
Marie Sjölin Wijk
Thesis title: “Advancing Tuberculosis Treatment Through Pharmacometric Modeling of Drug Exposure and Biomarkers.”
Marie holds a Master’s in Pharmacy from Gothenburg University, Sweden, and joined the UCT Pharmacometrics Group for her PhD in 2021. Her research combined clinical data and in vitro studies to explore factors influencing TB treatment, linking drug exposure, bacterial load, and treatment outcomes.
“I’m really grateful for the opportunity to complete my PhD in pharmacometrics with the fantastic team at UCT. These past four years have been an incredible experience, and I feel well prepared for the next challenges ahead in this field.”
We are immensely proud of Noha, Manna, Allan, Lufina, and Marie for their dedication and achievements.
This milestone marks the culmination of years of hard work, perseverance, and a lifetime of accomplishments leading up to this point. Their journey reflects not only their personal commitment but also the support, encouragement, and inspiration that surrounded them along the way. To our graduates, while you are undeniably (already!) missed, we cannot wait to see what the future may bring you.
Congrats to all five graduates!
