The Cape Heart Institute is multidisciplinary and interprofessional centre of excellence that concentrates on research activities and expertise relating to cardiovascular risk factors and diseases common to sub-Saharan Africa. Its focus is to consolidate and expand major existing efforts to combat the most serious cardiovascular threats to health and to improve overall prosperity within the region.

The Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IDM) is a trans-faculty postgraduate research institute. The IDM strives to be an international centre of excellence in which scientists work together to tackle diseases of major importance in Africa including tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and non-communicable diseases among others.

The Neuroscience Institute is an  interdisciplinary institute to advance research, training and advocacy to improve lives and advance our understanding of the human brain.

Alan J Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health is a collaborative inter-institutional multi-disciplinary centre that conducts high quality research on public mental health, and uses evidence for teaching, consultancy and advocacy to promote mental health in Africa.

Biomedical Engineering Research Centre (BMERC) is a basic and translational research centre in biomedical engineering, medical imaging, biomechanics, mechanobiology, health innovation and healthcare technology focuses on prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management of diseases and healthcare problems relevant to Africa and globally.

The Centre for Brain-Behaviour is a multi-disciplinary, UCT-accredited collaborative hub of psychiatric neuroscience research. 

The Centre for Environmental and Occupational Health Research is a research centre with a substantial concentration of skills in clinical occupational medicine and occupational epidemiology research in the country.

The Centre for Integrated Data and Epidemiological Research is a World Health Organisation (WHO) collaborating centre for HIV Epidemiology and conducts multi-disciplinary research on priority infectious diseases in Southern Africa, to improve disease prevention and management.

The Centre for Lung Infection and Immunity is a centre focused on study of pulmonary regulatory immunological pathways in relation to infection, development and validation of rapid and field-friendly diagnostics for pulmonary infections, and outcome and intervention studies of drug-resistant tuberculosis.

The Desmond Tutu HIV Centre is committed to the pursuit of excellence in research, treatment, training, and prevention of HIV and related infections in Southern Africa. The research, clinical and community-based staff of the centre share a common agreed purpose to lessen the impact of the HIV epidemic on individuals, families, and communities, through innovation and their passion for humanity.

Health through Physical Activity, Lifestyle and Sport (HPALS) Research Centre: aims to optimise human performance and promote health and well-being, addressing the growing pandemics of obesity and inactivity, reducing the burden of disease and injury, through promoting physical activity and sports participation, healthy eating and sleep hygiene.

The SAMRC/UCT Gynaecological Cancer Research Centre is a comprehensive cancer research centre fostering multidisciplinary collaboration between basic scientists, public health researchers and clinicians. Our purpose is to understand the burden of gynaecological cancer in SA, to develop preventative strategies and to improve quality of care.

South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI) is a global leader in TB vaccine research conducting multiple clinical trials, immunology studies, and observational cohorts over the two decades.

The Centre for Infectious Diseases Research in Africa (CIDRI-Africa) fosters investigator-led approaches via the overarching scientific objective of combatting infection, especially HIV-1 and tuberculosis, through clinical and laboratory research.

The Adolescent Health Research Unit builds on existing research and collaborations to co-ordinate, promote and facilitate research on all aspects of adolescent health. It does this through facilitating cutting-edge interdisciplinary research.

TheAlbertina and Walter Sisulu Institute for Ageing in Africa is a cross-disciplinary group which incorporates geriatric medicine, geriatric neuropsychology, geriatric neurosciences, geriatric psychiatry and a gerontology programme.

The Cardiovascular Research Unit the research at this unit centres around the concept of regenerative medicine. The goal of which is engineered regeneration of diseased structures through co-ordinated and site-directed signalling to facilitate gradual in situ remodelling of surgically replaced hybrid biosynthetic devices.

The Children's Institute is an interdisciplinary policy research unit that combines the rigour of academic enquiry and the energy of civil society activism to explore the tensions between policy, practice and children’s lived realities; and to promote the design and implementation of laws and services that enable all children to thrive.

Chronic Diseases Initiative for Africa is a network of multidisciplinary researchers and policymakers drawn from three major tertiary academic institutions in Cape Town (University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch University and University of the Western Cape), the South African Medical Research Council, Harvard University and representatives from local and national Departments of Health. It serves as a regional hub for developing and evaluating models of chronic disease care and the prevention of their risk factors.

The Drug Discovery and Development Research Unit is part of drug discovery campaign that specialises in the use of innovative drug discovery tools for the development of drugs targeted for treatment of infectious & other endemic African diseases.

The Gender, Health and Justice Research Unit works to improve service provision to victims of violence against women in South Africa through research, advocacy and education.

The Health Economics Unit works to improve the performance of health systems through informing health policy and enhancing technical and managerial capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its foundation is academic excellence in health economics and related health system issues.

The HIV Mental Health Research Unit: offers a platform of clinical service, teaching and research, extending to numerous hospitals and clinics in greater Cape Town, was established in response to the growing recognition of the burden of mental disorders in people living with HIV – including depressive, anxiety, substance abuse and neurocognitive disorders.

The Including Disability in Education in Africa (IDEA) Research Unit works to contribute towards knowledge construction that supports global progress towards SDG4: “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” with a focus on disability inclusion, specifically (but not exclusively) on the African continent.

The Kidney Disease and Hypertension Research Unit works, through their academic and clinical activities, to reduce death rates and improve the quality of health of people with kidney disease and hypertension particularly in the Black population of South Africa.

The Molecular Mycobacteriology Research Unit focuses on aspects of mycobacterial physiology and metabolism of relevance to TB drug discovery, drug resistance, and mycobacterial persistence.

The Human Genetics Research Unit focuses on the genetics of colorectal cancer, inherited forms of blindness and neuropsychiatric diseases.

The Immunology of Infectious Diseases Unit strives to be relevant as an excellent multidisciplinary and international team, embracing both basic and applied research, in order to improve capacity, teaching and training in the immunology of infectious diseases.

The Precision and Genomic Medicine Research Unit uses developments in the field of genomic sciences to investigate human biodiversity contributing to a more proactive and preventive approach to health.

The Unit on Child and Adolescent Health undertakes translational research focused on priority childhood diseases including TB, pneumonia and HIV and the intersection of infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases such as asthma. Research integrates perspectives from basic, clinical and population science.

The Unit on Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders research anxiety and stress disorders.

The Orthopaedic Research Unit enables experimental musculoskeletal research, translational research, clinical trials and healthcare delivery. The unit aims to encourage clinicians, investigators and students to follow unanswered orthopaedic-related research questions. These findings will be made available to our community to continue improving health care and to change lives for the better.

The Research Centre for Adolescent and Child Health is a paediatric clinical research unit which builds clinical and research capacity to improve child health in Africa. The research programme is locally responsive, addressing national priorities such as HIV, TB and childhood pneumonia as well as globally relevant, fostering international, national and local collaborations.

The Medical Biotechnology and Immunotherapy Research Unit aims to develop tailor-made immunodiagnostics and immunotherapeutics based on increasing knowledge of disease development.

MRC/UCT Platform for Pharmacogenomics Research & Translation Research Unit focuses on identifying inherited genetic variations, epigenetic changes and microbial profiles that are associated with interindividual differences in the ways patients respond to therapeutic treatment including herbal medicine, a field commonly referred to as Pharmacogenomics.

The MRC/UCT Wound and Keloid Scarring Translational Research Unit seeks to optimise tissue culture models for dermal wound healing after injury.

The SAMRC/UCT Intersection of Noncommunicable Disease and Infectious Disease Research Unit is focused on enhancing the understanding and management of the interaction between endemic infections (SARS-CoV-2, HIV, tuberculosis) and NCDs (heart failure, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity, cancer, mental health).

The aim of the Cancer Research Initiative is to facilitate integrated, interdisciplinary cancer research in the Faculty and beyond. Through collaborative research, the CRI pursues innovative, effective and relevant approaches to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer, placing the Faculty at the forefront of research endeavours to address the alarming cancer burden in Africa.

The Collaborating Centre for Optimising Antimalarial Therapy (CCOAT) serves to bring together the expertise of clinical and laboratory researchers, working together to improve malaria treatment. Our strong track record of successful malaria research initiatives has led to our being selected to lead the Pharmacology module of Worldwide Antimalarial Resistance Network and as one of three South African Medical Research Council Collaborating Centres for Malaria Research.

The Community Eye Health Institute (CEHI) was established in 2008 with the broad aim to build capacity in public eye health services in sub-Saharan Africa. Through education and training, programme development and research, CEHI aims to promote the application of the principles and techniques of advocacy, strategic leadership and programme management to improve the performance of district, provincial and national prevention of blindness programmes.

The Vaccines for Africa Initiative (VACFA) has a strong and well-established network of stakeholders who work together on a shared goal of increasing awareness of and promoting uptake of vaccines on the African continent.