Dr Thabo Hamiwe

Postdoctoral Fellow

Chair of the Co-Create panel discussion

Dr Thabo Hamiwe received her PhD in Medical Microbiology from the University of Pretoria (UP), where she conducted a study that investigated the lung microbiome of patients with cystic fibrosis and characterised the genomic profiles of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from CF patients, that determine antibiotic resistance and virulence potential of this pathogen. Her MSc: Medical Microbiology/UP study focused on investigating antibiotic resistance and virulence in the notable clinical pathogens Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium from environmental sources such wastewater and sewage. She has been involved in multiple collaborative studies that included Rand Water, Ampath Laboratories, the National Health Laboratory Service, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Steve Biko Academic Hospital and Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital. Her research findings have been published in accredited high impact factor journals and have been presented at multiple national and international conferences. She is a Golden Key member and has been the recipient of bursaries from Rand Water, the National Research Foundation, the University of Pretoria and has been shortlisted for an Association of Commonwealth Universities travel bursary. Dr Hamiwe is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Medical Microbiology, in the Faculty of Health Sciences/UP where she has continued her work on the transcriptomes of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from cystic fibrosis patients. She has supervised multiple BSc (honours), MSc and PhD students at the Department of Medical Microbiology and lectures undergraduate and postgraduate students at the Faculty of Health Sciences/UP. Dr Hamiwe has a passion for infectious diseases, their molecular pathology and the investigation of virulent bacterial pathogens, with a particular focus in better understanding virulence and combatting antibiotic resistance.

Dr Melvin Ambele

Senior Research Officer

Panelist

Dr Melvin Ambele obtained his Ph.D. from UCT and is a Senior Research Officer at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, seconded by the Institute for Cellular and Molecular Medicine. He has unique and highly specialized skills in translation research, which has established him as an emerging leader in the field of adipogenesis and obesity. He has published extensively in his field and received recognition for the most highly cited articles in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences in 2020. He is a Guest Editor of Frontiers in Genetics and Pharmaceutics Journal and is the Editor of a book series on adipogenesis in “Methods in Molecular Biology” by Springer Nature. He served as a member on review panels at the NRF (Thuthuka) and the SAMRC (SIR) research grant application committees. He holds previous and current membership in international bodies such as the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Society of Human Genetics, and the African Society of Human Genetics. Lastly, he is actively involved in teaching, training and supervision of postgraduate students.

Dr Kuhlula Maluleke

Post-doctoral Fellow

Panelist

Dr Kuhlula Maluleke is an epidemiologist and a post-doctoral fellow who recently completed her PhD under REASSUED-@UP. She completed her PhD in record time and presented three published manuscripts and two under review in her thesis. Her  research focus is on improving supply chain management for point-of-care diagnostic services in resource-limited settings. In addition to her PhD studies, Kuhlula is a member of the UP evidence synthesis and translation research groups. In this capacity she has mentored undergraduate students. She serves as a biostatistics screener for the School of Health care Sciences. She is interested in adopting innovative techniques such as geographic information systems to address public health challenges.

Prof Elize Webb

Associate Professor

Panelist

Prof Elize Webb is an Associate Professor in Epidemiology at the School of Health Systems and Public Health (SHSPH), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, South Africa.She has published over 30 journal articles ininternational, high-impact, peer-reviewed journals. Her main research focus area is evaluating and improving primary care servicedelivery for people living with diabetes, hypertension and obesity in the public sector. Her research focus involves the implementation of screening programmes to ensure betterglucose management, screening for diabetic complications and putting interventions in place to better prevent it. Prof. Webb is part of the Tshwane Insulin Project, a 5-year sponsored study in the Tshwane district, focusing on improving diabetes care at the primary level and also a founding member of the University of Pretoria’s Diabetes Research Centre. Prof Webb has participated in various clinical trials related to primary care for people living with diabetes. She was a member of the Faculty of Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee for some time and is also the MSc Coordinator at the SHSPH and the Faculty of Health Sciences Coordinator for postgraduate research methodology training.

Dr Candice Hendricks

Paediatric Clinical Haematologist

Panelist

Dr Candice Hendricks is a Paediatric Clinical Haematologist currently pursuing a PhD in Medical Immunology at the Institute for Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Pretoria. Her PhD work is characterising umbilical cord blood haematopoietic stem cells from HIV exposed infants that are HIV negative at birth. Her hope is to provide more African and South African patients access to life-saving stem cell transplantations, with and without cell and gene therapies, in dedicated paediatric transplantation units. She believes this vision can be achieved by improving the number and diversity of South Africa’s stem cell donor population, improving clinical paediatric transplantation skills, increasing the academic, clinical and manufacturing capacity in the cell and gene therapy field and advocating for inclusivity of patients from both the public and private sectors to ensure all patients benefit equally.

Dr Tsakane Hlongwane

Specialist Obstetrician and Gynaecologist

Panelist

Dr TMAG Hlongwane is a specialist Obstetrician and Gynaecologist. She is part of the teaching and research team at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and the University of Pretoria’s Research Centre for Maternal, Fetal, Newborn and Child Health Care Strategies. She is a TUKS young research leader fellow and participated in the African Early Career Researcher engagements hosted by the University of Pretoria which highlighted the importance of trans- and interdisciplinary research amongst young researchers across Africa.She is passionate about women’s health, teaching and advancing research. She is a clinician scientist, with a special interest in maternal and perinatal health, and improving health systems. She obtained her PhD in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Her research focuses on screening low-risk pregnant women using a continuous-wave Doppler device- the Umbiflow TM to identify the high-risk fetus in a low-risk mother, to improve the antenatal experience of care and prevent unexplained stillbirths.