• Biostatistics representative for School of Medicine - [email protected]
• Biostatistics representative for School of Healthcare Sciences - [email protected]  
• Biostatistics representative for School of Dentistry - [email protected] 
• Biostatistics representative for School of Health Systems and Public Health [email protected]  (a pre-screener is being recruited)

Webinars

Practical Steps for Developing a Research Proposal for Biostatistics Support 28 July 2023 Dr Ropo Ebenezer Ogunsakin			Researcher Tour - An Exploration of Data Science Methods in Health Science 7 September 2023 Dr Ropo Ebenezer Ogunsakin
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) for Health Sciences Research   6 November 2023     Prof (Din) Ding-Geng Chen			AI's Impact on Society (or Health) requires that we all play a role 12 February 2024 Presentation slides Prof Vukosi Marivate

Attachments

Please see below the bios of the Biostatisticians, School Screeners and external collaborators:

Biostatistician

Biostatistician

Dr Ropo Ebenezer Ogunsakin

HW Snyman Building North Room 4-7

[email protected]

For the Faculty of Health Sciences

Dr Ropo Ebenezer Ogunsakin was appointed as a Biostatistician for the Faculty of Health Sciences from 1st July 2023. He received his PhD from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Republic of South Africa 2018. Prior to joining the University of Pretoria, he served as a Biostatistician for the College of Health Sciences, KwaZulu Natal University, South Africa. Ebenezer’s work focuses on the application of Biostatistics in medical research. His research interest evolved around the application of spatiotemporal techniques to solve real-life health problems, Bio-statistical methodological development in Bayesian statistics and their applications to medical sciences, Generalized linear models, Environmental statistics, Meta-analysis, Randomized response techniques, Survey methodology, and Statistical computing.

Prof Alfred Musekiwa

HW Snyman Building South Room 5-10

[email protected]

For the School of Health Systems and Public Health

Professor Alfred Musekiwa is an associate professor and Head of the Division of Health Measurement Sciences in the School of Health Systems and Public Health (SHSPH), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria. He holds a PhD in biostatistics from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). He completed his Biostatistics Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health in the USA.  He has worked as a Senior Biostatistician at several medical research organizations including the South African Medical Research Council (MRC), Wits Health Consortium, Right to Care, and the U.S. Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC).

Professor Musekiwa is also a Biostatistician for the School of Health Systems and Public Health, where he provides biostatistical support to staff and postgraduate students. His research interest is in HIV/AIDS among adolescent girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa, where he has published widely. He is a C2 NRF-rated researcher as an applied biostatistician and is a specialist in systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

School of Dentistry Screener

School of Healthcare Sciences Screener

Dr Melvin Ambele

[email protected]

Dr. 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, obesity and cancer. He has published extensively in his field and served as Guest Editor in ISI Journals. He also served on Review Panels for NRF (THUTHUKA) and the SAMRC (SIR) Research Grants. He is actively involved in teaching, training and supervision of postgraduate students in Genetics, Medical Immunology and Dentistry.

Dr Kuhlula Maluleke

[email protected]

Kuhlula Maluleke is an epidemiologist and public health researcher 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 Healthcare Sciences. She is interested in adopting innovative techniques such as geographic information systems to address public health challenges.

School of Medicine Screener

Prof Trevor Nyakudya

[email protected]

Prof Nyakudya is a Medical Physiologist based at the University of Pretoria where he is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology and School of Medicine. He is a BSc Hons, MSc Medicine (Physiology) and a Doctoral degree (Ph.D) in Medical Physiology graduate from Wits University. He also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Health Sciences Education and an MSc in Health Science Education from Wits University. His pre-clinical medicine research focus is on the neonatal programming and the developmental origins of health and metabolic disease. He makes use of neonatal and adult animal models to investigate the potential therapeutic efficacy of alternative and complementary medicines, administered during the critical windows of developmental plasticity, against diet-induced metabolic dysfunction.

Prof Nyakudya is a member of several national and international scientific societies. He has authored and co-authored several journal articles in national and international accredited journals as well as a book chapter. To date, Prof Nyakudya has supervised several MSc students and PhD students who are at various stages of their studies.

External Collaborators

Prof (Din) Ding-Geng Chen

[email protected]

Elected Fellow | American Statistical Association

SARChI Chair in Biostatistics, Department of Statistics, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Executive Director & Professor in Biostatistics, College of Health Solutions,

Senior Global Futures Scientist, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory

Arizona State University, Phoenix, USA

Dr. (Din) Ding-Geng Chen is a fellow of the American Statistical Association and an elected member of the International Statistical Institute. He is currently the executive director and professor in biostatistics at the College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University, USA. He is also an extraordinary professor and the SARChI research chair in biostatistics at the University of Pretoria, an honorary professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Dr. Chen was a professor in Biostatistics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a professor in biostatistics at the University of Rochester Medical School, and the Karl E. Peace Endowed Eminent Scholar Chair in Biostatistics at Georgia Southern University. He is a senior biostatistics consultant for biopharmaceuticals and government agencies with extensive expertise in biostatistics, clinical trials, and public health statistics. Dr. Chen has more than 200 referred professional publications and co-authored and co-edited 38 books on clinical trial methodology, meta-analysis, data science, causal inference, and public health research.