The South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI), is a world leader in TB vaccine clinical research located within the Health Sciences Faculty at the University of Cape Town.
The mission of SATVI is the development of new and effective vaccination strategies against tuberculosis (TB). A new, effective vaccine has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives world-wide. We are testing multiple new vaccine candidates in clinical trials. We are also completing projects to address critical clinical, epidemiological, immunological and human genetic questions in TB vaccine development. Our activities are within an academic context, and thus include the training of postgraduate students. The SATVI field site is located in the Boland region, 110km outside Cape Town, where the rate of TB is amongst the highest recorded in the world. This rural area of about 12,000 square kilometers has a population of about 350,000, of whom more than 20,000 have participated in our studies to date.
Team
SATVI regards each of its >100 personnel members as critical for its success. Our team consists of specialists in: administration, clinical, epidemiological, human genetic and immunologic science, clinical trials, community liaison, recruitment and follow-up; data management and analysis, disease surveillance, information technology, clinical evaluation and care of participants,; facility management, laboratory technology, logistics, research pharmacy management, project management, regulatory affairs, study coordination and training.
December 2019
We also have an active postgraduate academic training programme, with multiple PhD and Masters students.
Leadership
SATVI Director, Professor Mark Hatherill, is supported by the Executive Committee comprising of Dr Masooda Kaskar (Chief Operations Officer), Professor Thomas Scriba (Deputy Director for Immunology and Laboratories) and Ms Marwou de Kock (Field Site Manager). We have two homes in the Faculty of Health Sciences; the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IDM) and in the Department of Pathology. SATVI has offices and a state-of-the-art laboratory within the IDM in Cape Town. The latter includes a biobank which houses >800,000 human samples. The SATVI field site is located 110km outside Cape Town, where the rate of TB is amongst the highest recorded in the world. Here, >20,000 persons have participated in our studies to date. Our field site facilities include project offices, and a dedicated "Vaccine House", "Case Verification Ward", pharmacy and satellite immunology laboratory. These are located on the premises of Brewelskloof TB hospital, in Worcester.