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Chief Executive Officer, Foundation for Professional Development, Representing The Coordinating Agency
Dr. Gustaaf Wolvaardt is an internal medicine specialist with post graduate qualifications in higher education and management. Who has spent most of his career in global public health. After serving as the South African Health Attaché in Geneva, he established FPD, a Private Higher Education Institution and one of Africa’s leading social transformation organizations, FPD fulfills its mission through: Providing high-quality affordable education a vast network of over 580,000 alumni across 110 countries. provided subsidized education scholarship to the value of ZAR 780 million.
Hosting impactful local, regional and local conferences designed to create awareness around neglected societal challenges originating with the AIDS 2000 conference that focused the world’s attention of the unaffordability of AIDS treatment in Africa. Conducting research focusing on HIV, TB, STIs, TB and HRH. To date FPD has produced 300 publications and 600 conference presentations.
Implementing catalytic system strengthening projects to enhance access to health care in HIV/TB/GBV and mental health. FPD HIV/TB projects ensured access to treatment for over one million PLHIV and free HIV tests for 12 million people. Currently FPD is reshaping access to Mental health care. Exploring innovative solutions to improve access to services such as social franchising, value based contracting and technology solutions such as the 1st serious game built in Africa for adolescents to developmental resilience skills “Stepwell Saga”.
Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Foundation for Professional Development, Representing The Coordinating Agency
Dr Maimela is a public health specialist with vast experience in health systems strengthening, focusing on HIV and recently on Climate Change and Health She previously led PEPFAR funded HIV and TB prevention and treatment programmes for general and key populations at Wits RHI, a Research Institute affiliated to the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. Dr Maimela is considered an emerging expert on climate change and health at a national, regional and global level. She is also a steering committee member of the Climate and Health Africa Network for Collaboration and Engagement (CHANCE), whose aim is to support the development of climate change and health policy in eastern, western and southern Africa.
Director, SAMRC Burden of Disease Unit
Prof Matzopoulos trained as an injury epidemiologist. His research centres on measuring the health and social burden of violence and injury and evaluating interventions and policies that target upstream determinants. An Honorary Professor at the University of Cape Town’s School of Public Health and Family Medicine, he co-ordinates its Violence and Injury Research Programme. He also advises the Western Cape Government on alcohol harm reduction, and interpersonal violence and injury prevention and surveillance. He serves on the Steering Committee of the International Collaborative Effort on Injury Statistics and Methods.
Senior Specialist Scientist, SAMRC Burden of Disease Unit
Dr Prinsloo’s, co-Head to the WHO-Family of International Classifications Collaborating Centre (WHO-FIC CC) for South Africa (SA) research in Injury Epidemiology with colleagues contributed to establishing routine injury mortality surveillance in the Western Cape. Her work on the 2009 and 2017 national-level Injury Mortality Surveys (IMS) have informed evaluation of the impact of changes in national firearms control legislation and policy. International collaborative work with The George Institute for Global Health, UK centers on child road traffic safety. She is affiliated to the University of Greenwich, London as Visiting Research Fellow. Current co-Principal Investigator roles include the SAMRC Flagship funded study on Alcohol diagnostic Validation for Injury-Related Trauma (AVIRT), and the 3rd national Injury Mortality Survey (IMS) for 2020/21.
Director, Orthopaedic Trauma Service, Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Cape Town, Lead Trauma Care and Injury Prevention, Division of Global Surgery, University of Cape Town
Prof Sithombo Maqungo is a distinguished figure in the field of orthopaedic surgery, renowned for his expertise in trauma care and injury prevention. With an impressive array of qualifications and a wealth of experience, he has dedicated his career to advancing the practice of orthopaedic medicine on both local and global scales.
Prof Sithombo Maqungo completed his medical degree, MBChB, at Natal University before pursuing further specialization in orthopaedic surgery. He attained his FC Ortho (SA) and MMed degrees, demonstrating a commitment to excellence in his field.
Prof Sithombo Maqungo has also completed Trauma Fellowships at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, USA, and Hadassah Hebrew Hospital in Jerusalem, Israel, further enriching his expertise and global perspective in orthopaedic trauma care. His thirst for knowledge and skill refinement led him to pursue a Postgraduate Diploma in Health Professions Education (PG Dip HPE) at the University of Cape Town, where he honed his abilities as both a practitioner and educator. At present, Prof Sithombo Maqungo serves as the Head of the Orthopaedic Trauma Service at Groote Schuur Hospital, affiliated with the University of Cape Town. He also holds the position of Clinical Lead for Trauma Care and Injury Prevention within the Division of Global Surgery at the University of Cape Town, reflecting his commitment to addressing public health challenges. Prof Sithombo Maqungo has played pivotal roles in various organizations, including serving as President of the Osteosynthesis and Trauma Care Foundation (OTC), South Africa Chapter, and as Past President of the South African Orthopaedic Trauma Society. He is also a Board member of GunFree South Africa and Childsafe.
Chief Specialist Scientist, Gender and Health Research Unit
She has a PhD and MPhil in Public Health and started her career as a nurse. She has worked in the area of gender based violence for the last 30+ years.
She has an honorary appointment as an Honorary Professor with UCT Faculty of Health Sciences in the School of Public Health and Family Medicine.
Her special interests are the health impact of gender based violence on women’s health with an interest in the interface between GBV and HIV. She also done research on the health sector responses to gender-based violence with a focus on post rape care. Her research skills are in both epidemiological and qualitative methods. .
Her current research activities include longitudinal research on the health impact of rape, sexual assault services – particular adherence to post exposure prophylaxis after rape to prevent HIV and mental health services for rape survivors
Naeemah has a large research portfolio on femicide and have documented femicide, intimate partner femicide, non-intimate partner femicide, rape murders and child murders through national studies in South Africa for almost twenty years. She is also involved in global research on estimating intimate partner and non-partner sexual violence and intimate partner femicide.
Researcher and Research Uptake Specialist, SAMRC, Gender and Health Research Unit
Dr Leane Ramsoomar holds a PhD in Public Health from the University of the Witwatersrand, a Master’s degree in Health Promotion (with distinction) from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, an Honors degree in Psychology from the University of Durban- Westville and a BA degree (Cum Laude) from the same university.
She is an experienced behavioral scientist with 18 years’ experience in conducting quantitative research, impact evaluations, policy analysis and desk top reviews in the areas of alcohol and other drug use, violence against women and girls and their intersections, HIV/AIDS and in academia.
Most recently, she held the portfolio of Research Uptake Manager of the Global UK-AID funded What Works to prevent Violence against Women and Girls, where she led a multi-faceted strategy for research translation in the global South..
In addition to managing strategic dissemination and use of evidence in 13 countries across 15 interventions in Africa, Asia and the Middle east, she was an integral part of the efforts to develop capacity for the interpretation and use of evidence to impact policy, programming and funding in these diverse contexts. Leane managed multiple dissemination platforms, including a dynamic website, which has become an influential public repository of all What Works outputs, and dynamic and influential social media platforms.
She was pivotal to the oversight, direction and finalization of over 50 research products, including evidence briefs and reviews, technical reports, synthesis reports, infographics and videos, each tailored to the needs of VAW practitioner, policymaker, donor and research audiences. Notable successes of research translation under her leadership, include; high-profile local and international media coverage on the issue of VAWG prevention; increased level of demand for What Works evidence from international bodies (e.g. UN Women, UN Trust Fund, WHO); the use of What Works evidence in informing UN Women/WHO RESPECT Framework, the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative, the South Africa Gender-based Violence and Femicide National Strategic Plan, and the awarding of multi-year funds for scale up in more than 20 sites in LMIC settings. Leane’s background spans research in adolescent alcohol use, alcohol policy work and youth risk behaviour
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