The Alliance for African Partnership has granted Dr Nkhensani Mogale further funding to build on her postdoctoral research into sitting anatomy.

Dr Nkhensani Mogale, a lecturer in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Pretoria (UP), was the first UP researcher to join the Alliance for African Partnership (AAP) in Michigan in the US. The AAP is a consortium of 11 African universities and Michigan State University (MSU).

In 2022, she returned to UP after a year-long programme in the US, and in 2023, the AAP awarded her more funding to continue her postdoctoral research, titled ‘Evaluation of soft tissue across racially diverse populations in South Africa, a pilot study for populations at risk of pressure ulcer development’. She continues to work closely with mentor Prof Jill Slade McMahon of MSU on her research.

AAP awardees receive seed funding and the opportunity to collaborate with universities and institutions. The grantees spend the first 12 months working closely with a professor and mentor in a similar field at MSU, then return home to continue their project and sustain the collaborations they established while at MSU.

“Prof Albert van Schoor is my home mentor, and the research project between the two institutions should be ongoing,” Dr Mogale explained. “This is so that you move from being an emergent researcher to a middle career, then an established researcher.”  

Participants attend leadership workshops, meet potential funders and build relationships with private and NGO institutions. AAP targets emerging female researchers in Africa, and Dr Mogale encourages students and researchers to contact her if they are interested in applying for the programme.

Dr Mogale’s research began by looking at clinical orthopaedic anatomy, but when she was introduced to and trained in ultrasound imaging, her research included sitting anatomy. She worked closely with her mentor Prof Jill McMahon, who works in exercise physiology. The postdoctoral research was a transdisciplinary study between the Departments of Radiology and Mechanical Engineering. This led to a collaboration with Prof Bush and Dr Scott of MSU, mechanical engineers who are investigating the tissue properties related to wheelchair design and sitting anatomy. Together they found themselves physically building the aspects of the scanning chair and sewing cushions until they could take images of participants in the loaded sitting position.

“Most of my collaborators are local and international orthopaedic surgeons,” Dr Mogale said. “I collaborate with them on different ideas and different things they see in their practice or surgery.”

While at MSU, Dr Mogale studied 24 participants and realised the need to extend her research in order to compare the results of participants from different races and those who have different physical abilities.

“When we finished, we were curious to see the differences between not just males and females but between individuals of different races,” she said. “For instance, the amount of the gluteus maximus that we sit on is not the same. The way in which you see the soft tissue arrangement seems to be quite different depending on the population.”

Dr Mogale hopes to map significant tissue changes in individuals with spinal cord injuries and tissue properties that may make people more prone to the development of pressure ulcers or bed sores. Her research has the potential to influence wheelchair design, improve treatments in a variety of medical disciplines and increase access for underserved population groups.