Staff of the School of Public Health

Professor and Director

Prof Uta Lehmann, MA, PhD (Hannover)

Uta Lehmann is a social scientist by training and has worked in public health and health personnel education for 30 years. She joined the SOPH in 1999, and has been its director from 2009 to 2012, and again since 2017. Her interests and expertise lie in health policy and systems research, human resource development, and qualitative research. Her research projects have included a focus on understanding how relationships, power and politics impact on the functioning of health systems, and exploring ways to support the voice and capacity of frontline providers and community health workers. She has led capacity strengthening initiatives for human resources development with sister institutions in other African countries and with international partners. Uta works extensively with the WHO and is the co-ordinator of the WHO Collaborating Centre for research and training in human resources for health.

Emeritus professors

Emeritus Prof David Sanders, MBChB (Birmingham), DCH (RCS Eng), MRCP (UK), DTPH (London), DSc (Hon Causa) (UCT)

David Sanders headed the SOPH from its inception in 1993 till 2009. David passed away unexpectedly on 30 August 2019. He was not only a well-renowned academic who shaped research and teaching in public health for almost five decades, but was also a consummate activist and commentator who spoke truth to power – a great public intellectual. He was a founding member of the People’s Health Movement (PHM) and Tekano Fellowship Programme. At the time of his passing, David held the position of co-chair of PHM and Chairperson of the Governing Board of the Chronic Diseases Initiative for Africa; and was working on an updated second edition of his seminal book The Struggle for Health. (See our tribute to David on page 58).

Emeritus Prof Thandi Puoane, B(Cur), BA Soc Sci (UNISA), MPH, DrPH (Berkeley)

Thandi Puoane has a background in nursing, has taught at universities in South Africa and the USA and has been a principal investigator for a range of research projects. She has extensive experience in nursing, teaching and public health research. Her research areas include child nutrition including the hospital management of severe malnutrition; identification of CVD risk factors, particularly obesity; participatory action research and monitoring and evaluation of programmes. Recently she has been working with community health workers in developing and implementing community-based programmes for prevention and control of NCDs. Thandi is a member of Chronic Disease Initiative for Africa and is the Cape Town PI of the global Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiological study. She is rated as a C2 scientist by the National Research Foundation. Thandi has written several chapters in books and has published widely in local and international peer reviewed journals.

NRF SARChI Chairs

Prof Asha George, MSc (Harvard), DPhil (Sussex)

Asha George joined the SOPH in 2016 as the South African Research Chair (SARChI) in Health Systems, Complexity and Social Change. Asha is a qualitative researcher focuses on the frontline interface and governance of services, taking into consideration community and health worker perspectives. Her longer-term national level work includes partnering with allies across community, district, state and national health systems in India to advance maternal health from a gender and rights perspective. She has worked in Mexico with government ministries and the UN system to advance the Beijing and Cairo agendas for women’s health and rights. Since 2016, Asha has been on the board of Health Systems Global, serving as its vice-chair from 2016 to 2018 and chair from 2018 to 2020. She currently leads the Drivers Working Group for Countdown to 2030, is a commissioner for the Lancet Commission on

Re-Aligning Child Health for the SDG Era, and serves on the Scientific and Technical Advisory Group for the Human Reproduction Program/ Department of Reproductive Health Research at WHO, Geneva. Asha is rated as a B3 scientist by the National Research Foundation. She is an Adjunct Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and a Principal Visiting Fellow at the United Nations University’s International Institute of Global Health. Since 2002, she has co-edited two volumes, four journal supplements, and has published over 120 journal publications and multiple technical reports and guidance documents.

Prof Helen Schneider, PhD (Public Health), MBChB (Cape Town), MMed (Witwatersrand), DCH (SA College of Medicine), DTMH (Witwatersrand)

Helen Schneider is a public health specialist and health systems and policy researcher who has worked for more than 25 years on the problematics of South Africa’s health system. She joined the SOPH in 2011 and was director from 2013 to 2016. Since 2015, she has been the director of the UWC/SAMRC Health Services to Systems Research Unit, and has occupied the South African Research Chair (SARChI) in Health Systems Governance since 2016. Helen’s research and policy interests have included an understanding of the political dynamics of AIDS policy under the Mbeki government and the health systemwide implications of programmatic interventions such as ARV scale-up; the implementation of South Africa’s ward-based outreach team strategy; governance and leadership of national community health worker programmes; and most recently, contemporary approaches to district health system strengthening and governance. She holds a number of positions on international committees, including two with the World Health Organization – namely Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee: Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (2018-2020); and the Advisory Committee on Health Systems Governance for Universal Health Coverage (from 2016). Helen is rated as a B2 scientist by the National Research Foundation.

Professors

Prof Diane Cooper, B Soc Sci, BA Hons, PhD (Cape Town)

(Retired from permanent staff in December 2020) Diane Cooper joined the SOPH as a professor in 2015 from the SOPH and Family Medicine at UCT. She has a Social Science background and a PhD in Public Health. Her main research interests are sexual and reproductive health (SRH), particularly among youth; gender and health; maternal health and women’s health. Her recent research projects have included local and international research collaborations focusing on the impact of gender norms on early adolescent SRH; the impact of violence on youth in accessing SRH services; SRH and HIV service integration; contraception; and teenage pregnancy. Diane has worked with the national and Western Cape provincial departments of health on the development of a number of SRH policies and programmes, including in adolescent and youth health. She has links with several non-governmental organisations. She is rated as a C2 scientist by the National Research Foundation – and will continue to retain research links with the SOPH during her retirement.

Prof Brian van Wyk, BSc (Hons), MSc Psychology, DPhil (Stellenbosch)

Brian van Wyk is a research psychologist with a passion for postgraduate supervision and teaching and innovation in health research methods. Brian trained in the Health Systems Research Unit of the South African Medical Research Council from 2000-2003, where he conducted his doctoral research on the effects of health reforms on the organisation of care and team functioning in a primary health care setting. Prior to joining SOPH as a lecturer in January 2006, he was a chief researcher in the Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS and Health research programme at the Human Sciences Research Council. In 2006-7, he was a Fogarty training fellow in the epidemiology of HIV/ AIDS and TB at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, New York.

Brian merges his training in health systems research and experience in researching social and behavioural aspects of HIV/AIDS in his current research which aims to improve adherence and treatment outcomes for adolescents on HIV treatment. Brian was deputy dean of Research and Postgraduate Studies in the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences from 2013 to 2016 and is currently vicechairperson on UWC’s Biomedical Research Ethics Committee. He represents UWC Senate on UWC Institutional Forum.

Associate professors

Assoc Prof Lucia Knight, BSc (Cape Town), MPopStuds (UKZN), PhD (London)

(Left SOPH in September 2020) Lucia Knight is a family demographer with particular experience in the study of HIV, families, poverty and social protection in Southern Africa. She has been working on the Sinako project which focuses on the intermediate role of the household in community support for chronic HIV care. Lucia has worked with colleagues at the University of Antwerp, designing and testing a model for a familybased intervention to improve ART adherence; she has also explored access to care and ART adherence among older people living with HIV in the Western Cape. These projects have built on her earlier research which dealt with family-based, self- and home-based testing for HIV, assessing the impacts of maternal mortality for families; and a large-scale cohort study exploring the well-being of children growing up with the dual burdens of HIV and poverty. Lucia has become the Head of the Division of Social and Behavioural Sciences at the School of Public Health and Family Medicine at the University of Cape Town and was appointed as an Extraordinary Professor with UWC SOPH in December 2020. She continues to lead on the Sinako project.

Assoc Prof Zandile June-Rose Mchiza, BSc (Nutrition & Dietetics) (Western Cape), MSc, PhD (Cape Town)

Zandile Mchiza specialises in research on obesity, nutrition and non-communicable disease. Prior to joining the SoPH in January 2018, she was a senior research specialist and a senior specialist scientist at the Human Sciences Research Council and the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), respectively. In these posts she led and collaborated in projects directed at improving and preventing nutritional disorders, body size and image distortion as well as metabolic diseases in South Africa and other African countries. More recently, she has been reviewing food-, nutrition- and health-related laws and policies to identify key legislation and policy adoption and delivery challenges with a view to finding workable solutions to inform legislation and policy amendments. Her other interest is capacity development, especially developing research skills of previously disadvantaged young scientists. Zandile convenes the Descriptive Epidemiology course and organises the Non-Communicable Disease Research Cluster for the School. She has been an associate editor for the Public Health Nutrition Journal; and has participated in panel committees for Research Career Development organised by the National Research Foundation, the SAMRC and the NIH (Fogarty Initiative).

Senior lecturers

Dr Hazel Bradley, B Pharm (Hons) (Bath), MPH, PhD (Western Cape)

(Retired from permanent staff in December 2020; continues in a part-time contract position) Hazel Bradley has lead the area of specialisation in Pharmaceutical Public Health within the Master of Public Health (MPH). This has included the first fully on-line modules offered by SOPH: Rational Medicines Use, Medicines Supply Management and Pharmacy Policy and Management. Hazel’s most recent research areas have included systems approaches to investigating and improving medicines management, safety and access; pharmaceutical human resources and district level services; and pharmaceutical and public health education and training. She has worked closely with international collaborators from Boston University School of Public Health and the Institute of Tropical Medicines, Antwerp. Hazel trained as a pharmacist in the UK and, prior to joining the SOPH in 2003, worked with a Cape Town NGO delivering community-based primary health care services. She will continue to retain research links with the SOPH during her retirement.

Dr Martina Lembani, BSc (Univ of Malawi), MADS (Western Cape), MADM, PhD (Ruhr-Bochum)

(Joined SOPH in January 2021) Martina Lembani is a demographer who specialised in international development studies and development management. She joined the SOPH in 2014 as a postdoctoral researcher on health policy and systems research projects, after which she has worked in various capacities at the School. In late 2020 she was appointed as a senior lecturer from January 2021. Martina specialises in health policy and systems research, including the use of systems dynamics modelling methodology focusing on maternal health, sexual reproductive health, mental health and food environments. Her focus is on health systems resilience and responsiveness and her current area of interest is migration and health. She convenes the Master programme module on Population Health and Development: A Primary Health Care Approach. Previously Martina worked in the field of HIV and AIDS, community development and monitoring and evaluation, particularly with NGOs. From 1999 to 2004 she was a monitoring and evaluation co-ordinator on a community empowerment project in Malawi. More

recently, from 2018 to 2019, she worked as the African regional monitoring and evaluation manager for a Cape Town-based NGO focusing on eye health.

Dr Verona Mathews, BA (Hons) Social Work, MPH, PhD (Western Cape)

Verona Mathews specialises in health information systems. Her research focus is on human resources for health, specifically in the areas of monitoring and evaluation, human resource management and information systems. She works on both national and district levels to design and implement a human resource information system to inform evidence-based planning and decision-making. Verona participated in a national rollout of the District Health Information System in South Africa, facilitating and co-ordinating the development, training and implementation of the system. More recently she has expanded to focusing on the decentralisation of human resource management in the public health sector.

Dr Anam Nyembezi, BA (Hons), MPP (KZN), PhD (Maastricht, Netherlands)

Anam Nyembezi’s training is in work and social psychology; his passion is men’s health research. Prior to joining the SOPH in January 2018, he was a research specialist in Population Health, Health Systems and Innovation at the Human Sciences Research Council where he conducted research focused on maternal and child health, sexual and reproductive health, mental health, and noncommunicable diseases. He also spent several years at the South African Medical Research Council researching youth risk behaviours, including understanding the determinants of HIV behaviours among traditionally circumcised men. His current research interests on men’s health focuses on sociobehavioural aspects of sexual reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, mental health and non-communicable diseases. Anam teaches and convenes the Health Promotion and Alcohol Problems modules of the PGD and Master programme.

Dr Bey-Marrié Schmidt, MPH Epid, PhD (Cape Town)

(Joined SOPH in November 2020) Bey-Marrié Schmidt is a public health researcher with training in anthropology and epidemiology. Her expertise is in qualitative and quantitative systematic reviews of public health and health system interventions, and knowledge translation methods that bridge the gap between research evidence and health policy and practice. Having joined the SOPH in November 2020, BeyMarrié will convene the Qualitative Research Methods module of the Master programme as well as lead two research projects: ‘Strengthening community engagement in TB and HIV vaccine trials in South Africa (CETH)’ funded by the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership; and ‘Knowledge Translation Platforms for bridging public health and health systems research into Universal Health Coverage related policy and practice (KTP-UHC)’. Bey-Marrié is also an associate staff member of Cochrane South Africa, a unit of the South African Medical Research Council.

Dr Hanani Tabana, BSc (Hons), MPH (Cape Town), PhD (Karolinska)

Hanani Tabana’s training is in epidemiology. Prior to joining the SOPH, she was a lecturer in the Community Health Division at Stellenbosch University. Hanani spent several years at the South African Medical Research Council conducting HIV prevention research, and her research continues to be in HIV/ AIDS, with a focus on maternal and child health (including sexual and reproductive health), and mental health. In addition, she conducts economic evaluations alongside research studies.

Dr Lungiswa Tsolekile, BSc (Hons) (Dietetics), MPH, PhD (Western Cape)

Lungiswa Tsolekile is a dietician who has been involved in research on chronic poverty. Her main interests are in the primary prevention and control of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and obesity in adults and children. She has worked with community health workers (CHWs) in promoting healthy lifestyles for prevention of chronic NCDs, as well exploring the use of motivational interviewing by CHWs to change the eating behaviours of community members. She has also been involved in the global Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological study. Lungi was promoted to senior lecturer in 2020.

Lecturers

Dr Suraya Mohamed, Nat Dip (Rad) (Cape Technikon), MPH, PhD (Western Cape)

(Retired from SOPH in December 2019) Suraya Mohamed initially worked as a radiographer in various state and private hospitals. Suraya’s abiding research interests have been adolescent health and wellbeing, including sexual and reproductive health. Her work has focused on health promotion and health promoting schools – and she was involved in the Health Promoting Schools Network.

Senior researchers

Dr Peter Delobelle, Doctor in Medicine, Surgery and

Obstetrics, PhD (Belgium)

Peter Delobelle is a medical doctor with a background in the public and private sectors. Having worked as general practitioner, specialist in training, and medical journalist he eventually became a public health practitioner through his field work for Médecins Sans Frontières. On arriving in South Africa in 2004, Peter worked on HIV/AIDS/TB referral systems in Limpopo province which resulted in the development of a health promoting hospital. He became interested in global health and health systems research through his affiliation with the Institute for Tropical Medicine in Belgium, and with SOPH. His research focuses on health systems and promotion in the fields of HIV/AIDS, noncommunicable disease (especially diabetes), maternal and child health, and health information systems. He has a keen interest in system dynamics modelling and complexity science and is involved in projects with national and international partners. Peter was actively involved in the International Union for Health Promotion & Education and acted as the European co-ordinator for its student and early career network.

Ms Nikki Schaay, BA (Hons) Psychology (Natal), MPH (Western Cape)

Nikki has worked at the SOPH since 2004. She recently became overall co-ordinator of the academic programme, and continues to convene a core module of the Master programme (Population Health and Development: A Comprehensive Primary Health Care Approach) and facilitates a short course on community participation in health. Nikki is particularly interested in researching how practitioners, and the health services more generally, can develop more responsive and participatory ways of working with clients and community members of the health system. Prior to joining the School, Nikki worked in the field of HIV. She managed a local NGO which was one of the first community-based organisations in South Africa to support a cadre of grassroots HIV educators; then co-ordinated a provincial HIV advocacy network; and later directed a national project which provided technical assistance to the National Department of Health, specifically in relation to HIV multi-sectoral capacity building and policy development. Over the past ten years Nikki has also been involved in short-term, international consultancy work. She has evaluated community-based HIV prevention and care projects and has contributed to the development of an index to measure HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination, undertaken in collaboration with UNAIDS and the Global Network of People living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+).

Mr Gary Spolander, MPH (Birmingham), MHRD, MBA (Wolverhampton), BSocSci (Cape Town)

(Left SOPH September 2019) Gary Spolander supported the teaching of health management in the SOPH from 2017 to 2019. Trained as a social worker, he worked in human resource development and in the social services in the UK for several years, and then taught leadership and management at Coventry University. He is presently completing his PhD with Keele University in the UK.

Researchers

Dr Woldekidan Kifle Amde, BA (Addis Ababa), MA (Ruhr-Bochum), MA, PhD (Western Cape)

Wolde’s research interests are in health policy and systems research, human resources for health, and capacity development. His recent doctoral work was informed by his involvement in inter-university collaborative initiatives to develop capacity in health policy and systems research, and in human resource leadership and management. In 2019 he graduated with a PhD in Public Health – a programme he also co-ordinates for the School with Helen Schneider. In addition he co-convenes the introductory module for the Postgraduate Diploma programme. Prior to joining the SOPH in 2009, Wolde worked as a development professional in Ethiopia, focusing on vulnerability and risk associated with disadvantaged groups, and access and usage to information communication technologies. He currently co-ordinates and manages content on the SOPH’s website and social media platforms.

Ms Tamryn Frank, BSc Dietetics, M Nutrition (Stellenbosch)

Tamryn Frank joined the SOPH in 2018 as a researcher, working in the field of obesity and non-communicable disease prevention. This informs her current doctoral research on obesity prevention policies in low-income settings. She is currently serving on the research working group advising the South African National Department of Health on Front-of-Package labelling. Prior to joining the SOPH, Tamryn worked for eight years as a primary health care dietitian for the provincial departments of Health, both in the Eastern and Western Cape. Her Master research – undertaken through Stellenbosch University (South Africa), Makerere University (Uganda) and Oslo University (Norway) - focused on human rights and food security.

Ms Tanya Jacobs, BSocSc (Cape Town), Hons (Psych) (Rhodes), MPH (Western Cape)

Tanya Jacobs joined the SOPH in May 2017 as a consultant to the Partnership for Health Leadership and Management (PAHLM) project, a collaboration between the universities of the Western Cape and Cape Town and the city and provincial Health departments. As such, she facilitates Action Learning Sets with participants from the Klipfontein, Mitchell’s Plain and Northern/ Tygerberg sub-structures. She taught on the Management Strategies Course. Between 2018 and 2019 Tanya was also a researcher in the Countdown 2030 team, a global initiative focusing on reproductive, maternal, newborn, adolescent and child health. Her focus is on adolescent health, including multi-sectoral adolescent collaboration; provision of sexual and reproductive health interventions in humanitarian settings; as well as an analysis of the global financing facility investment cases and project appraisal documentation. Tanya is currently a PhD candidate with the SOPH – focusing on a gender analysis of adolescent health policy in South Africa.

Ms Mary Kinney, BA (Ohio Wesleyan), MSc (Cape Town)

Mary Kinney joined the SOPH in November 2017 as a researcher for the Countdown to 2030 Drivers Group, assessing implementation factors of quality improvement initiatives for maternal and newborn health. She is currently managing the project’s Health Policy and Systems Data & Analysis Center (DAC), which provides guidance on measuring the health systems drivers that underpin coverage and equity of women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health. Mary’s research interests include health system and policy research, maternal and child health and implementation science. She is currently a PhD candidate at SOPH focusing on implementation research for maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response. Mary is an assistant editor at the BMC Reproductive Health and serves on multiple global maternal and newborn health technical working and oversight groups.

Mr Florian Kroll, MA (Albert-Ludwigs Univ, Freiburg)

(Left SOPH August 2020) Florian Kroll has a keen interest in the links between food systems transitions, poverty, governance and public health, especially in African cities. Having conducted research and training on urban food insecurity in Johannesburg since 2008, Florian has collaborated with the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security. This led to his involvement with the SOPH, where he has managed the IDRC-funded project, ‘Researching obesogenic food environments in South Africa and Ghana’ between April 2017 and August 2020. Following his Master degree in historical anthropology, Florian consulted to the NGO sector on agro-ecology, ethnobotany and health.

Mr Ntobeko Nywagi, BSocSc (Hons)(Cape Town) (Left SOPH June 2020)

Between October 2017 and June 2020 Ntobeko was a researcher for the three-year bilateral collaborative research study with Ghent University on improving adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SRH) – and which looked particularly at the influence of early adolescent gender socialisation on later sexual and reproductive health. Funded by the South African National Research Foundation and Belgian Research Foundation Flanders, the study is part of a 15-country Global Early Adolescent Study (GEAS) led by Johns Hopkins University. Prior to this, Ntobeko worked in research projects focusing on HIV/AIDS, women’s health and gender, SRH, youth and health studies. He has had extensive experience in research supervision and liaison with all levels of stakeholders in projects undertaken in communities. Ntobeko is a social scientist and is currently doing his Master degree at the SOPH.

Dr Sunday Onagbiye, BEd (Hons), MA (OAU, Ife), PhD (NWU, Potchefstroom), Cert. Prevention Strategies for NCDs (Oxford) (Left SOPH December 2019)

Sunday Onagbiye was at the SOPH from 2018 to 2019, working as a researcher in a four-year collaborative research project on the self-management approach and reciprocal transfer for type 2 diabetes (SMART2D). Sunday is a human movement scientist/physical activity and health specialist. His research interests are in public health promotion in the areas of physical activity intervention and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) risk factors, health-related quality of life, cardio-metabolic disease, energy expenditure, obesity, health risks behaviour, mental and musculoskeletal health, and PA and climate change. His doctoral work was in human movement science and he has a studied prevention strategies for NCDs at Oxford.

Ms Manya van Ryneveld, BSocSc Hons (Cape Town), MSc (Oxford)

(Joined SOPH in April 2019) Manya van Ryneveld joined the SOPH in April 2019 and works with the Extra-Mural SAMRC (Health Services to Systems) Research Unit, in keeping with her interests in health systems and policy research, policy reforms for national health insurance, and the application of critical social theory in public health. Her research interests include community health systems, understanding everyday care, informality and grassroots self-organising during health emergencies. Currently a PhD candidate with the School, Manya has a background in social anthropology and an MSc in International Health and Tropical Medicine from Oxford.

Research project managers and co-ordinators

Ms Mariam Hassen, BHMS (Rhodes), BSc Med (Hons) (Cape Town)

Following 12 years in biokinetics in the private sector, Mariam Hassen entered the field of public health when she joined the SOPH in 2016. She works with two projects, both of which focus on strengthening systems regarding diabetes intervention and prevention in local communities. Mariam is interested in contributing to understandings of diabetes epidemiology, management and social innovation in introducing opportunities in diabetes prevention and management.

Mr Mulalo Kenneth Muhali, BEnvSc (Venda)

Kenneth Muhali joined SOPH in 2013 as a National Research Foundation intern, working as a research assistant for the PURE project that focuses on environmental, biological and societal influences on obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). In 2016 he joined the SOPH as a research officer with the diabetes prevention programme, Sivile SenzaLifestyle Africa, a study that aims to reduce community members’ risk for NCDs by motivating them to eat healthily and engage in physical activity. Since 2019 he has been the intervention manager for the Sinako Project which focuses on the intermediate role of the household in community support for chronic HIV care.

Ms Cynthia Paka, Dip Gen Nursing & Midwifery (College of Nursing), Dip PaedNursSc (Cecilia Makiwane Nursing College)

Cynthia Paka is community liaison for the diabetes prevention programme, Sivile Senza-Lifestyle Africa programme. Cynthia studied nursing at Livingstone Hospital, followed by a Diploma in Paediatric Nursing Science at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital in the Eastern Cape. She continued to work mostly in paediatrics as a professional nurse, until she retired in 2000. Since then she has been working in communities with the SACLA Health Project.

Education specialists

Ms Ziyanda Mwanda, BSc Biotech (Western Cape), PGD in Ed Tech, MEd Ed Tech (Cape Town)

Ziyanda Mwanda is an e-learning specialist, who obtained her Master degree in Education Technology in 2020. Her research interests are around the use of social media to support distance and postgraduate students. Ziyanda leads the School’s innovation efforts in educational technology and virtual learning. She prepares academic multi-media materials for the course work programmes, providing e-learning support to both students and teaching staff. She also co-ordinates the School’s presence on the University Learning Management System, iKamva.

Part-time and associate staff

Ms Jenny Birkett, BA, HDip Ed (Natal), MEd Applied Lang Studies (Cape Town) Education specialist

Jenny Birkett’s background is mainly in adult education. She worked for many years teaching and developing training materials for adult literacy and adult education NGOs, and she has lectured at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and on UCT’s Adult Education Certificate programme. Jenny has experience, and an interest, in language education and academic development, having trained language educators at UWC, and worked on academic support programmes in UWC’s Education Faculty and at the CPUT. Since 2014, Jenny has been providing education and language input to assist with SOPH’s materials development and other initiatives.

Ms Sarah Davids, Diploma (Coach Companion SA,) BSc Occupational Therapy (Cape Town), MPH (Wales)

Sarah Davids is a facilitator and coach with an interest in capacity enhancement, systems strengthening, quality of care and wellness and continuing education of health care workers. She is exploring the integration of organisational and relationship systems coaching principles within management training. Sarah is the convenor of the Management Strategies for Health module of the Master programme.

Ms Barbara Hutton, BSocSc (Hons), BEd (Hons) (Witwatersrand) Education specialist

Barbara Hutton is a senior educationist. She has strong foundations in adult education, distance learning and in writing and editing learning material for different audiences, with a specific focus on public health. Her interest is in making learning accessible to students and in helping to enhance their on-line learning experiences by providing feedback and coaching, and by building their confidence towards facilitating their overall success. Barbara has convened the Postgraduate Diploma module on Population Health and Development: A Primary Health Care Approach I.

Dr Thubelihle Mathole, BSc (Hons), MPA (Zimbabwe), PhD (Uppsala) Senior researcher

Thubelihle Mathole joined SOPH in February 2008. She has wide experience in research, training and programme planning and management. Her areas of interest are international/global health, monitoring and evaluation, human resource management, HIV/ AIDS and maternal and child health. She is involved in postgraduate supervision.

Prof Rina Swart, BSc Hons (Stellenbosch), MPhil, PhD (Western Cape)

Rina Swart is a dietitian / nutritionist and member of staff in UWC’s Department of Dietetics and Nutrition. Her postgraduate qualifications and area of specialisation are in public health nutrition, with a focus on the prevention of all forms of malnutrition through nutrition policies and programmes, as well as the evaluation of such policies and programmes. Since 2014, she has served as the Nutrition Programme Leader within the DSI/NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security. Registered with the HPCSA, Rina is also a member of the Assoc of Dietetics in South Africa (ADSA) and the Nutrition Society of South Africa (NSSA); she has served as president (2006-2010) and then chairperson of the NSSA Council (2010-2012). She is an active member of the World Public Health Nutrition Association (WPHNA), and is currently on the working group on competency development of accredited public health nutritionists. In 2016 she arranged the Congress of the WPHNA in Cape Town. Most recent and ongoing projects include evaluation of the impact of the Health Promotion levy; development and evaluation of a Front of Pack label to inform South Africans of packaged food products high in critical nutrients (sugar, salt, saturated fat); and a national dietary intake survey.

Ms Ulla Walmisley, BSc Physiotherapy (Witwatersrand), MPH (Western Cape)

Ulla Walmisley is a public health researcher with an interest in health systems strengthening and adolescent health. She trained as a physiotherapist at Wits, and continues to do some clinical work in this field. Motivated by a desire to make a difference on a larger scale, she completed her MPH at SOPH in 2018 and moved into the academic sphere. She is co-marker on the Management Strategies for Health module of the MPH – and has completed work on a scoping review related to adolescent health for Prof Brian van Wyk.

Research assistants

Ms Asiphe Ketelo, B Env Stud (Walter Sisulu), MPH (Western Cape)

(Left SOPH January 2020) As a National Research Foundation intern at the SOPH, Asiphe worked on the global PURE project as a research assistant for two and a half years, collecting data in the field and undertaking administrative duties. From 2016 to January 2020 she was part of the Sivile Senza-Lifestyle Africa project, a diabetes prevention programme that focused on behaviour change in eating and exercise in two of the biggest townships in Cape Town. This informed her mini-thesis for her MPH in which she examined the food and nutrition literacy of community health workers in the Western Cape. She graduated in 2020.

Dr Smart Mabweazara, Dip Ed, Sports & Phys Ed (Zimbabwe), BSc Hons (Nat Univ of Sc & Tech), MA, PhD (Western Cape)

(Left SOPH October 2019) Smart worked in the diabetes prevention project, Sivile Senza-Lifestyle Africa, as a research assistant from 2017 until 2019. He assisted with the development of physical activity tools, co-ordination of field work and preparation of manuscripts for publication. His research interests include the prevention and management of non-communicable diseases using physical activity, as well as the development of contextualised physical activity interventions for lowincome populations. Smart’s Master and PhD degrees are in sport, recreation and exercise science – and his doctoral research addressed the promotion of physical activity among HIV-positive adults of low socioeconomic status.

Ms Tshilidzi Manuga, BSc (Nutrition) (Venda)

(Left SOPH October 2019) Tshilidzi Manuga was a research assistant for the SMART2D project, and a research assistant for the PURE project. She has a BSc degree in nutrition and is currently a Master student in the SOPH.

Ms Hlolisiso Nonkeneza, BSc (Med Bioscience) (Western Cape)

Having joined SOPH in 2017 as a student assistant, helping with general administrative functions, Hlolisiso now does project administrative duties. In 2019 and 2020 she has worked with the Edutainment Project.

Ms Michelle Odendaal, Electronics Technician (Wingfield College)

(Left SOPH June 2020) Michelle has varied experience in field work, data capturing and transcribing. She initially joined the SOPH in 2007 as a fieldworker and data capturer for a study on waiting and service times and on the Global Health Initiatives. From March 2018 to June 2020, she was a research assistant on the Global Early Adolescent Study.

Ms Nomfundo Cishe

Nomfundo has worked as a transcriber, data capturer and fieldworker in various research projects, including at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation and at the University of Cape Town. She is currently working on two studies at UWC: one at the Centre of Excellence in Food Security and the other at SOPH, examining the impact of violence and crime on youth health service access.

Field staff

Mr Rivalani Derrick Chauke, BSc Nutrition (Venda)

(Left SOPH September 2019) Until 2019 Rivalani was a fieldworker on the Sivile Senza-Lifestyle Africa, a diabetes prevention programme that focuses on eating and exercise behaviour change in two townships in Cape Town.

Ms Boniswa Jwili, Dip Enrolled Nurse Assistant (Elliot Hospital)

Since 2009 Boniswa Jwili has been a fieldworker and data capturer for the PURE project, having worked as a fieldworker and a moderator for ten years. From 2016 until 2019 she worked on the SMART2D project, and the Sinako Project from June 2019 until June 2020. Prior to joining SOPH, Boniswa worked for several companies doing market research.

Sandile Luke, BComm (Acc) (Walter Sisulu)

Sandile worked for the global PURE project as a research assistant from 2013 to 2017, collecting data in the field and undertaking administrative duties as a fieldworker co-ordinator at the Eastern Cape site in Mount Frere. In May 2017 he joined the selfmanagement diabetes programme (SMART2D) as a fieldworker; and from October 2019 until June 2020 has worked on the Sinako Project .

Ms Kholiswa Mphithi

Kholiswa Mphithi brought her experience from various research projects, especially market research, to the PURE project when she joined in 2009 as a fieldworker. From 2017 to October 2019 she worked as a fieldworker with the self-management diabetes programme (SMART2D) after which she joined the Sinako Project.

Mr Khumbula Ndibaza, Dip Nursing (Groote Schuur Nursing College)

From 2009 Khumbula was a fieldworker and a data capturer for the PURE project – after which he was a fieldworker with the self-management diabetes programme (SMART2D) until September 2019. He is now working on the Sinako project. Khumbula has a Diploma in Nursing and is currently studying for a BA in Community Health Psychology at UNISA.

Sivile Senzo-Lifestyle progamme, Sinako fieldworkers:

Fieldworkers on Sivile Senza and fieldwork team leaders on Sinako from June 2019: • Nceba Phike • Esihle Nyalambisa Fieldworkers on Sivile Senza and fieldworkers on Sinako from June 2019: • Bongiwe Paka • Eleanore Francis • Thozama Honono–Kasozi • Sindiswa Mmango

Nutrition fieldworkers (Food Environment Team)

Fieldworkers and control officers: from February 2018: • Mr Tyler Coates • Mr Sikhumbule Joni • Ms Alice Khan from February 2019: • Ms Aneeqah Latief • Ms Sharna Solomon • Ms Morongoa Tlhako from May 2019: • Ms Zintle Phekana

Administrative and support staff

Ms Nolitha Komeni, BCom Management (Western Cape), PGCE (UNISA) Senior Office Co-ordinator

(Joined the SoPH in June 2019) Nolitha Komeni re-joined the SOPH in June 2019 as the senior office co-ordinator, having previously held the position of administrative assistant / receptionist at SOPH in 2013. In the interim she worked for two years as Administrative Officer in UWC’s Education Faculty and for four years as faculty assistant at the Faculty of Health and Wellness on the Bellville Campus of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. In her new position at the SOPH she heads the Administration of the School and her responsibilities include office and personnel management, oversight of Summer and Winter Schools and oversight of the financial administration of projects.

Ms Carnita Ernest, BA, BSocSc (Hons) (Cape Town) Project manager

Carnita Ernest re-joined SOPH to manage the Project Unit in August 2016, having occupied this post when it was first established in 2008. She oversees all funded projects, providing assistance to academics, monitoring the progress of projects and reporting. Carnita is a development practitioner with more than 15 years of experience in civil society organisations in South Africa and more broadly on the African continent, focusing on issues of governance, peacebuilding, health and development. She has worked for the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, and the Centre for Citizens’ Participation in the African Union – as well as as an independent consultant. Carnita has conceptualised and led complex multicountry projects, undertaken fundraising for project and institutional needs, and overseen end-of-cycle evaluations of programmes, working with a diverse range of individuals and stakeholders. Her work is underpinned by her personal commitment to human rights, gender equity and social justice.

Ms Sidiqa Abbas Finance administrative officer

Sidiqa Abbas is responsible for the financial administration of various projects in the School which includes the management of various project funds. She came to the University in May 2010, having worked in the private sector.

Ms Cara Fisher, BCom Finance (Hons) (Western Cape) Finance administrative officer

(Joined SOPH June 2019) Cara Fisher joined the SOPH in June 2019 after a longterm contract with UWC’s Economics Management Sciences Faculty as a facilitator. She is responsible for smaller National Research Foundation entities and all payment requests.

Ms Tasneem Abrahams-Abbas Administrative officer

Tasneem Abrahams-Abbas joined the SOPH in 2017, after a short-term contract at UWC’s Business Innovation Centre. She is responsible for building management, venue allocation and provides support to a range of staff. She also procures the equipment and assists with Winter and Summer School administration.

Ms Bridget Basson, BAdmin (Hons) (Western Cape) Administrator

Bridget Basson joined the SOPH in 2000, after working at the Education Policy Unit at UWC as a student assistant. She provides administrative/logistical support to a range of staff, arranges conferences, travel, and is involved in the co-ordination of the Summer and Winter Schools.

Ms Ntombomzi Buzani Receptionist

Ntombomzi Buzani joined SOPH while working for Securitas as a security officer at UWC. She was posted in the SOPH building from 2013. In March 2017 SOPH appointed her as office assistant and six months later as receptionist. She is responsible for the switchboard, general administration and venue bookings and assists with the Summer and Winter Schools.

Ms Corinne Carolissen, ND Exec Sec & NHDPSE (PenTech) Senior programme officer

Before joining SOPH in 2001, Corinne Carolissen worked in the retail industry for a buying support group, first as a buyer’s assistant and then as secretary to the regional manager. After studying Education, she moved to the non-governmental sector where she worked for Grassroots Educare Trust for 8 years in finance and administration, taught adult learners, and organised national workshops. At SOPH, Corinne co-ordinates the administrative functions of the academic programmes, including co-ordinating thesis administration for the Master and doctoral programmes; she assists with the Winter and Summer Schools administration and provides support to a range of staff and students.

Ms Teresa de Lima Financial administrator

Before joining the SOPH in May 2004, Teresa worked at the SA Reserve Bank for 16 years, as well as at the Independent Development Trust and the European Parliamentarians for Africa. She is responsible for the financial administration of various projects in the School which includes the management of many project funds.

Ms Janine Kader, HCED, Adv Dip Pub Admin (Western Cape) Administrative officer: Postgraduate Programme

Janine Kader joined the SOPH in February 2002. She co-ordinates the administration for the Postgraduate Diploma and Master of Public Health, which includes co-ordinating the intake of new students and their registration, and provides administrative support to a range of academic staff and students. In 2020 Janine graduated with the Advanced Diploma in Public Administration.

Ms Tamlin Petersen, Adv Dip Management (Western Cape) Administrative officer

Tamlin Petersen joined the SOPH in 2002, initially working part-time on the Summer and Winter Schools. She joined the staff full time in 2009, when she became the administrative co-ordinator for the newly-formed UWC Centre for Research in HIV and AIDS, a position she held for five years. This comprised the overall administration of the Centre and event management, particularly the annual international HIV-in-Context Research Symposiums. Following this, she has become the Events and Grants Administrator for the School. In 2020 Tamlin graduated with the Advanced Diploma in Management.

Ms Verna Williams Administrative officer

Verna Williams has been assisting with Winter and Summer Schools for many years; and has also been assisting with reception and general administrative duties.

Honorary professors

Prof Fran Baum, Bachelor of Arts (Hons) (Wales), PhD (Nottingham)

Prof Fran Baum is the Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor of Public Health, and foundation Director of the Southgate Institute of Health, Society and Equity at Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia. SOPH has had a long-standing, collegial relationship with both Fran and the Southgate Institute. In 1997 she and members of her academic team provided invaluable technical assistance to the School in establishing its pioneering distance education programme and were co-authors of many of the original core module of our MPH programme. Since then, Fran and the SOPH, under the leadership of the late Emeritus Prof David Sanders, have continued to

work together on a number of international public health research initiatives such as ‘Revitalizing Health for All: Learning from Comprehensive Primary Health Care (CPHC) Experiences’ (2007-2011), and, more recently, on ‘Punching above their weight: Building capacity for research on why some countries have better life expectancies than predicted by national income’ (2018-9). Fran is internationally recognised as a leader in applying social science skills to the study of the social and economic determinants of health and health equity. She has been advisor and consultant to the WHO on Healthy Cities, Health in All Policies and the social and economic determinants of health, and has a strong record of research translation to policy and practice. Most notably she served as a Commissioner on the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health from 2005 – 2008. Fran is a dynamic and esteemed public health educator and facilitator and we use her books, The New Public Health and the more recent Governing for Health, as key resources in our Postgraduate Diploma and MPH learning and teaching programmes.

Prof Lucy Gilson, BA (Hons) (Oxford), MA (East Anglia), PhD (London)

Prof Lucy Gilson holds the appointment of professor both at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK – and is an honorary professor at the University of the Witwatersrand. Throughout her career, her research has been driven by a concern for equity in health and health care. This has involved conceptual and empirical work on issues of health care financing, organisation, management, and policy change. Lucy has also played a leading role in developing the field of health policy analysis, and currently manages a continental initiative to strengthen training in this field. She has also conducted collaborative research with colleagues in other countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, and in Asia. Lucy has had a long-standing relationship with the UWC SOPH, initially introducing her groundbreaking work in health policy analysis to the SOPH in a Winter School short course in 2008. Since then she has led numerous collaborations in health policy and systems research and teaching between UCT and UWC, including the CHESAI, CHEPSAA and DIALHS projects.

Extraordinary professors

Dr Marisa Casale, Banking & Econ Sc (Siena), Masters Dev Studs (Padua), PhD Health Psych (Cape Town)

Dr Marisa Casale joined the SOPH in 2017, originally as Extraordinary Senior Researcher. She has a multidisciplinary background, comprising banking and economic science, development studies and health psychology (the field of her PhD). For the past 16 years she has been conducting multi-disciplinary health research in southern and South Africa, focusing mainly on caregiver and child health in the context of HIV. This has comprised work on HIV prevention and treatment adherence among youth, social networks and health, health financing and the economic aspects of HIV. Marisa has been a senior researcher and programme head of Health Governance and Finance at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD) and a senior teaching and research fellow at Oxford University’s Department of Social Health and Intervention, where she is now an Associate Member. She is currently work package lead and member of the executive group of the UKRI-GCRF Accelerating Achievement for Africa’s Adolescents Hub, led by Oxford University. Marisa has worked extensively within multi-country partner networks, including with UNAIDS, UNICEF, IFPRI, Metropolitan Life, IDRC, ODI, SIDA, South African government departments and international university partners.

Prof Tanya Doherty, BNursing, MSc Nursing (Cape Town), MPH (Harvard), PhD (Uppsala)

With qualifications in nursing and public health, Prof Tanya Doherty’s main research focus areas are community interventions to improve child health and nutrition. She has led cluster-randomised trials, cohort studies and multi-country evaluations of programmes across Africa. She has published over 100 peer reviewed articles. Tanya holds a joint position with the SOPH and the South African Medical Research Council.

Prof Debra Jackson, BSN (Florida State), MPH (San Diego State), DSc (Boston)

In August 2020 Prof Debra Jackson joined the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine as the inaugural Takeda Chair in Global Child Health and Deputy Director of the MARCH Centre. Prior to this she had worked in the Health Section of UNICEF as Senior Health Advisor and Chief of the Implementation Research and Delivery Science Unit, which focused on maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health programme research, data and digital health. Debra lived in South Africa from 2000 to 2013 and has experience working across Africa, Asia, Pacific Islands and the USA. At the SOPH she served as principal investigator for research projects such as the multi-country PROMISE-EBF trial on promoting exclusive breastfeeding as well as the evaluation of the National South African Prevention of Mother-toChild Transmission of HIV. She has qualifications in nursing, public health, epidemiology and biostatistics. Her research interests are maternal and child health, nutrition, CRVS (civil registration and vital statistics), health systems, imbedded implementation research, maternal and child health data and digital health. She has over 140 peer-reviewed publications and serves on several global and WHO advisory committees.

Prof Richard O Laing, MD (Zimbabwe), MSc (London), DA (South Africa), MBChB (Zimbabwe)

Prof Richard Laing is a physician who worked for 18 years at all levels in the Ministry of Health in Zimbabwe. After receiving postgraduate degrees in public health and health policy, he spent 13 years in Boston, USA, where he initially worked for an international consulting company, Management Sciences for Health, establishing the International Network for the Rational Use of Drugs. He was also an editor for Managing Drug Supply (2nd edition). Richard taught international public health at Boston University School of Public Health before joining the WHO in mid-2003 as a medical officer. During his ten years at WHO, he served on a number of expert committees and has been engaged in working on measurement of medicines pricing and availability as part of the joint WHO/HAI project on medicine prices. In 2014 Richard returned to the Boston University School of Public Health as Professor of International Health, teaching primarily in the pharmaceuticals track. Richard’s research has focused on access to medicines such as insulin, and on evaluating pharmaceutical company access initiatives such as Novartis NCD Access and the IFPMA multi-country Accelerating Access for NCDs. He has an extensive list of academic publications: he edited the Essential Drugs Monitor; he was one of the authors of the Priority Medicines for Europe and The World reports; and was also the editor of the WHO World Medicine Situation (3rd edition). Richard has received two Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowships which enable him to spend time at UWC.

Prof Christina Zarowsky, MD (McMaster), MPH (Harvard), PhD (McGill)

Prof Christina Zarowsky was a professor in the SOPH where she also headed the university-wide Centre for Research in HIV and AIDS from 2009 to 2013. At the end of that year she left to become the Professor and Director of the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine in the School of Public Health of the University of Montreal – and is also a researcher at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre. A medical doctor and anthropologist, Christina has specialised in public health. From 2000, she worked for the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC) where she led the Research for Health Equity suite of programmes and developed several donor partnerships. Her work at SOPH took forward the focus of her work at IDRC which examined public health and health systems issues from a governance perspective, emphasising civic engagement, attention to power and process, and strengthening linkages between research, policy, practice, and social change. Her areas of interest include social determinants of health, community and systems perspectives on HIV and AIDS, refugee and migrant health, and research capacity strengthening.

Extraordinary associate professors

Assoc Prof Ehimario Igumbor, BSc (Hons) (Zimbabwe), MPH (Venda), PhD (Western Cape)

With an initial degree in physiotherapy, Ehi Igumbor joined the SOPH as a senior lecturer in epidemiology and health information systems in 2007. He left in October 2012 to join the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Pretoria. Ehi’s research interests include chronic disease epidemiology, burden of disease analyses, public health education and routine health information systems. He holds an MPH, majoring in Health Measurements (epidemiology, biostatistics and population studies) and a PhD in Public Health.

Dr Vera Scott, MBChB, DCH (Cape Town), MPH, PhD (Western Cape)

A medical doctor, Vera Scott worked as a clinician and programme co-ordinator within a fledgling district health system in Mitchells Plain in Cape Town in the late 1990s. While at the SOPH, she worked extensively on projects aimed at developing and strengthening district health information systems and contributed to developing a South African HIV Gauge, a Cape Town Equity Gauge and provincial HIV and TB monitoring and evaluation systems. Vera completed an MPH at the SOPH in 2001, and her PhD in 2015 through which she explored the factors that influence how facility managers use health information. She left in February 2016 to help establish the Tekano Fellowship Programme.