Prof Vanessa Steenkamp

Deputy Dean: Teaching and Learning

Panel Discussion Chair

Professor Vanessa Steenkamp is the Deputy Dean of Teaching & Learning and Professor in Pharmacology in the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria. She has made groundbreaking strides in her career, which has had a significant impact in the field of pharmacology, both as a member of committees, through her participation and engagement with students, scientists and the community and her research contributions. She specializes in researching traditional herbal medicine and toxicology, with her focus being drug-development for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Not only is her research comprehensive and multifaceted, but innovative, and incorporates the use of advanced technology. Her recognition both locally and internationally is confirmed by her multiple invitations as plenary/guest speaker, awards received and honorary positions. She has successfully supervised >70 postgraduate students to completion and is actively involved in mentoring emerging scientists.

Prof JLA Rantloane 

HPCSA Board Chairperson (MEDICAL AND DENTAL PROFESSIONS BOARD)

Panelist

Prof Arthur Rantloane, Emeritus Professor of Anaesthesiology at university of Pretoria, is a former head of department of anaesthesiology at university of Pretoria and MEDUNSA (Medical University of Southern Africa), now renamed Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences university (SMU). He was previously deputy dean for stakeholder relations at the Faculty of Health Sciences, university of Pretoria, a position he held from 2017 - 2021. His past professional appointments include: President of the College of Anaesthetists (Colleges of Medicine of South Africa); president of the South African Society of Anaesthesiologists (SASA); president of the Africa Regional Section (ARS) of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists; honorary registrar and examinations committee chairperson of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa. He was appointed to the Medical & Dental Professions Board in 2020, at which he has previously served as Board Vice Chairperson and Chairperson of the Medical Education Training & Registration Committee, and currently serves as Board Chairperson.  He is an editorial board member and section editor of the Southern African Journal of Anaesthesia and Analgesia (SAJAA).Awards received include the Nelson Mandela Medallion (Gold), SASA OVS Kok award; Wits Anaesthesia Hugo von Hasseltt medal for services to anaesthesia; Steve Biko Academic hospital service excellence award, and Honorary Fellowship of the College of Anaesthesiologists of East Central and Southern Africa (CANECSA).

Mrs Thulile Zondi 

Chief Director for Health Information, Epidemiology, Research, Monitoring and Evaluation (HIRME) 

Panelist

Thulile Zondi is the Chief Director for Health Information, Epidemiology, Research, Monitoring and Evaluation (HIRME) for almost 10 years at the National Department of Health. She is responsible for measurement of health sector performance and ensuring its accountability to oversight institutions. She championed the 2016 South African Demographic and Health Survey (SADHS), the 2019 National Health Insurance Phase 1 Evaluation, the development of the Digital Health Strategy 2019- 2014 and DoH 30-year Review Report. Her current main projects are the 2023-2026 Health Systems Research Grant, 2025 SADHS, 2025-2029 cycle Strategic Plan, as well as Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response system development. Thulile Zondi holds a Bachelor of Nursing (UCT) and a Master of Public Health (WITS). Prior to joining NDoH, she provided technical assistance for primary health care quality improvement initiatives within NGOs; conducted evaluations at United Nations Population Fund and lectured post-graduate students on Monitoring and Evaluation at WITS School of Governance

Prof Werdie van Staden

Director of the Centre for Ethics & Philosophy of Health Sciences

Panelist 

Werdie van Staden is professor of philosophy and psychiatry, director of the Centre for Ethics and Philosophy of Health Sciences at the University of Pretoria, and honorary psychiatrist at Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital, South Africa. He has been the chairperson of the Faculty of Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee since 2009. He serves as editor-in-chief of Philosophy, Psychiatry & Psychology, published by Johns Hopkins University Press (USA), and which is ranked 7th among the 328 listed philosophy journals. He was the editor-in-chief of the South African Journal of Psychiatry for 11 years until 2017. Among the more than 100 scholarly articles in medical and philosophy journals and books, he co-edited with Professors John Sadler and Bill Fulford, the Oxford Handbook of Psychiatric Ethics, and he co-edited International Perspectives on Values-based Mental Health (2021). He co-chairs the World Psychiatric Association’s Section for Philosophy and Humanities in Psychiatry and serves on the Board of Directors of the International College of Person-Centered Medicine.

Dr Gwendoline Malegwale Ramokgopa-Lephoko

Extraordinary Lecturer, Department of Public Health Medicine, UP

Panelist

Dr. Gwen is a Medical Doctor with a Masters degree in Public Health from the Medical University of Southern Africa, now Sefako Makgatho University of Health Sciences. She previously served as Special Advisor to the Minister in the Presidency in South Africa and as Chancellor of the Tshwane University of Technology. She pursues her Medical Profession as an associate of the University of Pretoria based World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre on Social Determinants of Health and Health in all Policies. She sits on the Boards of the South African Medical and Dental Practitioners Association (SAMDP), the Medical Women of South Africa, and the Medical Cooperative Bank. She has worked as a Medical Officer at the now Dr. George Mukhari Hospital and as a General Medical Practitioner at Pretoria City Centre. She was also the National Health Program Manager at the Independent Development Trust during the transition to democracy and served as a Medical Advisor at the Gauteng Department of Health. She has also served as the Deputy Minister of Health in the Republic of South Africa, and as the MEC for Health in the Province of Gauteng, South Africa.

In December of 2022 she was elected to her current position as the Treasurer General of the African National Congress. She is the first Female to have been elected to this position. Her activism extends to the promotion of human rights, wellness and shared prosperity for an equitable development.

Prof Rachel Jewkes

Executive Scientist at the South African Medical Research Council

Panelist 

Professor Rachel Jewkes is the Executive Scientist at the South African Medical Research Council and Honorary Professor in the University of the Witwatersrand School of Public Health. She is a medical doctor and Public Health Specialist who has led the SAMRC’s gender-based violence (GBV) research for 30 years. Her team’s research has described the epidemiology of GBV, risk factors and drivers of GBV, the impact of GBV on women’s health and how to provide services for women experiencing GBV and to prevent it. She was the Consortium Director of the What Works to Prevent Violence? Global Programme, researching GBV prevention in 13 countries in Africa and Asia. She is a founder member of the Sexual Violence Research Initiative, a member of the Global Programme Advisory Committee of the UN Trust Fund and of the WHO’s Expert Advisory Panel on Injury and Violence Prevention and Control. She is an A-rated scientist and author of over 300 peer-reviewed journal publications.