Biography

Henriette van Heerden (née Britz) obtained a Ph.D. at the University of Pretoria (UP), where after she joined the ARC-Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute and worked on the Heartwater programme that completed the sequencing of the entire 1.51 Mb genome of Ehrlichia ruminantium. She started her academic career in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in 2003. She joined the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases (DVTD) at UP in January 2008. Her research projects aim at improving the understanding, detect and control of brucellosis and anthrax in wildlife and livestock.

Discipline/s

Bacteriology, immunology, ecology, epidemiology, and molecular biology

Research description

Henriette van Heerden's research projects focus on improving the understanding, detection, and control of anthrax and brucellosis in wildlife and livestock. The research projects are multidisciplinary, including bacteriology, immunology, ecology, epidemiology, molecular biological characterization of brucellosis and anthrax, and anthrax vaccine development.  Zoonotic awareness material (www.up.ac.za/audiovisual-products) includes anthrax, brucellosis, leptospirosis, rabies, and cysticercosis, and tuberculosis are used to educate stakeholders on zoonotic diseases in community engagement projects.

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