I’m Professor Mathildah Mpata Mokgatle, and I’m honoured to receive the SAMRC Scientific Merit Award — Research Capacity Development & Transformation Award. 

I serve as Vice-Dean: Research in the School of Health Care Sciences, and I’m also the Head of the Department of Public Health. 

I’m the Deputy Chairperson of the UCDP and nGAP Mentorship CommitteeMy research focuses on areas where evidence can save lives:infectious disease prevention and control, sexual and reproductive health interventions, and the development of digital health innovations — including AI-powered healthcare assistants, health education tools, and conversational agents that support people with reliable information. 

I also work on point-of-care diagnostics — validating rapid tests, understanding uptake, and supporting their inclusion into policy frameworks, because diagnostics only have value when they are trusted, used, and implemented at scale. 

In my day-to-day work, I wear multiple hats. As an academic administrator, my passion for research and teaching remains a priorityI mobilise resources, engage implementation sites, and train teams across the full research process — from ethics and fieldwork, to analysis and publication. I also retain my graduates and continue working with them as co-supervisors and co-authors, because mentorship should create long-term research pathways. 

I’m grateful for recognitions along this journey: an NRF C2 Rating in 2024, the VC Research and Innovation Award for Best Established Researcher in 2025, and, in 2026, being awarded an NRF SARChI Research Chair in Sexual and Reproductive Health, aligned to the DSTI/NRF decadal plan. 

My relationship with the SAMRC is also very important to me. I’m a SAPRIN BAMMISHO node co-Director, a population science and surveillance node funded by the SAMRC. BAMMISHO focuses on the Bafokeng Health & Demographic Surveillance Node, to understand the impact of mining and migration on socio-economic and health outcomes in a rural, peri-mining community in the Bojanala District in the North West Province. 

Thank you to the SAMRC for recognising this work — and for supporting research that builds capacity, strengthens systems, and delivers impact where it matters most.

I’m Professor Joyce M Tsoka-Gwegweni, and I’m honoured to receive the SAMRC Scientific Merit Award — Research Capacity Development & Transformation Award. 

I’m an Associate Professor, and I serve as Vice-Dean for Research and Head of Public Health. 

In my leadership role, I’m responsible for Research, Marketing, Transformation, Internationalisation, and Postgraduate Studies — and I also lead the newly established Division of Public Health. 

I’m particularly interested in Maternal, women’s and child health before Mental Health as an area of research interest. Burden, prevention, and control of diseases of poverty — how they interact, and how health systems respond through health systems strengthening and policy.  I also have interests in mental health and substance abuse, because these issues often intersect poverty and vulnerability in ways that are easy to overlook, but impossible to ignore. 

I’m grateful for the support and recognition that has helped build this journey — including my NRF C2 rating and incentives for rated researchers, and grants that strengthen research and training, like the Nurturing Emerging Scholars Programme to fund Master of Public Health students.

I’ve also received institutional and collaborative grants for curriculum development, writing retreats, and interdisciplinary research — all aimed at creating stronger programmes and stronger researchers. 

My academic path includes a PhD, a Master of Public Health, and specialist training across medical parasitology, psychology, health research ethics, GIS and leadership development. 

And my relationship with the SAMRC  began inDurban ,1995 as a Research Intern, and later I served as a Scientist, then Senior Scientist, and eventually as Research Manager in the Research Division in Cape Town. 

I spent a total of 14 years at the SAMRC, and that experience helped shape my commitment to research excellence and to developing people and systems that can sustain it. 

This award is not mine alone. It belongs to my postgraduate students, my colleagues, my collaborators, and the communities whose lives and realities our work is meant to serve.

Thank you to the SAMRC for this award  — and for recognising research that builds capacity, transforms institutions, and strengthens health for those who need it most.

I’m Professor Refilwe Phaswana-Mafuya, and I’m honoured to receive the SAMRC Scientific Merit Award — Research Capacity Development & Transformation Award. 

I serve as Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation at University of Johannesburg, and I’m also the Director of the SAMRC/UJ Pan African Centre for Epidemics Research — PACER.

My field is Epidemiology and Public Health. At its core, my work is about strengthening the evidence that helps us prevent disease, respond to epidemics, and build health systems that are resilient, equitable, and ready.

But this award is also about capacity — building people, building platforms, and building a culture of research excellence.

A key part of how I work is through teams: delegating roles and responsibilities clearly, supporting collaboration across disciplines, and leveraging networks so that research milestones are prioritized.I also believe that sustainable excellence requires balance — finding time to unwind and rejuvenate — because long-term research leadership demands both stamina and perspective.

I’m grateful for recognitions along the way, including: the Vice-Chancellor Top Researcher Award in the Faculty of Health Sciences at UJ in 2025, an NRF C1 re-rating in 2025, and recognition through HERS-SA awards — including Trailblazer and Lifetime Achiever — as well as being named a Faculty Living Legend in 2024.

I have worked with the South African Medical Research Council. Started through PACER which was founded in 2022 — the first and only SAMRC extramural unit at UJ — and I’m funded through the Mid-Career Scientist Programme under the Research Capacity Development Programme.

I share this award with my colleagues, collaborators, and emerging researchers — because transformation is not a moment; it is the work we do, consistently, to build the future.

I’m Professor Conran Joseph, this honour granted to me by the  SAMRC Scientific Merit Award in the Bronze Award category is one I have looking forward to receive from these prestige’s awards. I’m a physiotherapist, and I serve as Professor and Head of Division: Physiotherapy at Stellenbosch University.  I’m also an Affiliated Researcher at the Karolinska Institute. 

My research focuses on neurological rehabilitation and the epidemiology of neurological disorders. A big part of my work is about patient-centred outcome measures — making sure we measure what truly matters to patients: mobility, independence, participation in daily life, and quality of life. 

I also study healthcare utilisation — who gets rehabilitation, when they get it, and what barriers prevent access — because evidence is only valuable when it helps improve real pathways of care.  I’m also committed to building Learning Health Systems for neurological disorders — systems that learn from routine care, use data to improve decision-making, and continuously strengthen services over time. 

Importantly, I stay actively involved in fieldwork. That includes hospital settings — like the stroke unit at Tygerberg Hospital — and community settings, including primary healthcare facilities and sometimes even patients’ homes. 

I’m grateful for recognitions that have supported my journey, including: an Erasmus Mundus full scholarship for my PhD training at Karolinska, a DVC Emerging Researcher Award at the University of the Western Cape, and a Fulbright Fellowship to the University of Vermont. 

My relationship with the SAMRC has been shaped through my role as a Project Manager on an SAMRC-funded Research Capacity Development Initiative Grant — an experience that supported postgraduate students and strengthened my own research and leadership development. 

This Bronze Award belongs to my students, my team, my collaborators, and the patients and communities whose lives rehabilitation is meant to improve.

I’m Dr Nompumelelo Prudence Mkhwanazi, and I’m honoured to receive the SAMRC Scientific Merit Award in the Bronze Award category. 

I’m a Senior Lecturer in the School of Medicine at University of KwaZulu-Natal, and I’m part of the HIV Pathogenesis Programme, where I serve as faculty and a research supervisor. 

I focus on host–pathogen interactions and antiviral immunity, and I’m especially interested in the antiviral screening of bioactive substances derived from natural products and secondary metabolites from endophytic fungi. The goal is to identify natural chemicals with antiviral properties that can contribute to future HIV cure strategies — supported by tools like network pharmacology to understand how viruses and hosts interact. 

I currently supervise five PhD and three master’s students, and since 2019 I’ve graduated eight honours and eight master’s students.  I’ve co-authored 35 peer-reviewed articles, and I also contribute to the research community through peer review and as a guest editor. 

This is my first award, I am grateful for the opportunity and to everyone who supports our work. 

Thank you to the South African Medical Research Council and all colleagues who continue to advance the impact of health research science.

I’m Associate Professor Phambili Nwabisa Shai, and I’m honoured to receive the SAMRC Scientific Merit Award in the  Bronze Award category. 

I’m a gender and health scientist, and I currently serve as Unit Director of the Gender and Health Research Unit at the South African Medical Research Council, and as an Honorary Associate Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand School of Public Health. 

For more than 25 years, my work has focused on: gender relations and gender-based violence. 

My research spans across measuring the extent and drivers of gender-based violence,designing, adapting, and rigorously evaluating behavioural prevention interventions that reduce violence and lower HIV risk. 

I’ve co-designed eight behavioural interventions, with seven evaluated through quasi-experimental approaches.

Some of my work has contributed to international learning, including my role as Technical Advisor to the UK-funded ‘What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls’ initiative.  There, I supported the design, adaptation, and evaluation of interventions that combined gender-transformative approaches and economic empowerment in Nepal and Tajikistan. This initiative worked  to build on  evidence generated in South Africa through the ‘Stepping Stones’ trials on preventing violence and HIV risk behaviour. 

In South Africa, I’ve been committed to bridging research, policy, and practice. I advised the Presidency during the development of the first National Strategic Plan on GBV and Femicide — particularly strengthening prevention — and I co-authored the National Integrated Femicide Prevention Strategy, which guides the national response to femicide. 

During COVID-19, I chaired the Solidarity Fund’s GBV strategy, helping to ensure that national funding decisions were anchored in evidence — supporting large-scale NGO allocations and strengthening prevention work in practice. 

In my current role, I divide my time between leadership and research: sustaining the unit’s strategic direction and administration, while also serving as a co-investigator on several studies and leading projects that amplify adolescent voices on safety and wellbeing — including work in Gauteng schools using adolescent-led approaches to strengthen how we measure adolescent violence. 

This recognition is deeply meaningful and I receive it in acknowledgement of the incredible team I work with the colleagues I’ve collaborated with and the families and individuals who have shared their experiences in hopes that one day we will release a reality without gender based violence.

I’m Professor Mkolo Nqobile Monate, receiving an award in the bronze category. I’m a Biomedical Scientist, and a researcher in Paraclinical and Omics-Based Health Sciences. 

I currently serve as an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology and Environmental Sciences in the School of Science and Technology at Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University. 

My research  focuses on: omics-driven research, in silico drug discovery, antiviral and non-communicable disease research, and digital health innovation and data platforms. 

I work in a hybrid, innovation-driven environment. Part of my time is laboratory-based — conducting metabolomics, bioassays, and molecular analyses at SMU and partner facilities, while strengthening local research infrastructure within an HDI context. 

 I also spend time building innovation ecosystems — including developing and leading Data Harnesser, a platform designed to integrate omics and geospatial data for health research, training, and decision-making. 

I’m grateful for recognitions that have encouraged this journey — including multiple awards from SMU in 2025, such as the Dean’s Excellence Award for Academic Excellence in Research, and Vice-Chancellor’s Research and Innovation Awards, including Best Overall Female Researcher and Breakthrough Innovation for the Data Harnesser platform. 

My relationship with the SAMRC has been strategic and long-standing. Through SAMRC capacity development initiatives, I’ve secured nested funding to support a PhD student and a postdoctoral fellow, helping build sustainable training pipelines at SMU and advancing omics-based biomedical and translational research aligned to national health priorities. 

Good day everyone, I’m Dr Simone Richardson. 

I’m honoured to receive the Silver Award from the South African Medical Research Council Scientific Merit Awards.

I’m a senior medical scientist in the National Institute for Communicable Diseases Antibody Immunity Unit, where I lead the Fc effector core and I’m also a Senior Researcher in the Health Sciences Research Office at University of the Witwatersrand. 

My research asks: how do antibodies really protect us? 

Most people know that antibodies can neutralise viruses. But they can also recruit other immune cells, through what we call Fc effector functions. 

I study these Fc functions as correlates of protection against viral and bacterial pathogens, especially where vaccines are still limited. 

We look at how immunogen design, human genetic diversity, and HIV co-infection shape coordinated antibody responses. 

Using high-throughput platforms, we map how durable and specific these functions are, and what structural features are required , alongside neutralisation, across HIV, RSV, and SARS-CoV-2. 

By characterising locally circulating strains, mucosal IgA responses, and allelic variation in African populations, we build frameworks for next-generation immunogens that deliberately elicit multifunctional antibodies —
optimised for our contexts. 

Day to day, I’m based mainly at the NICD. I lead a laboratory team, I am a lecture and mentor, I analyse data, and write grants and papers. 

Some of the awards I’ve won in the past include multiple national and international honours recognising excellence and leadership in biomedical research, early-career scientific contribution, and vaccine innovation, awarded by organisations such as the National Research Foundation, the Royal Society of South Africa, amfAR, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, L’Oréal/UNESCO, and the UK government. I currently hold a SIR grant, and I’ve been funded as a co-PI and co-investigator. 

I would like to thank my family, my team collaborators, and research participants. I dedicate this award to them.

I’m Professor Regan Solomons,

I’m a paediatric neurologist, and I serve as Executive Head and Full Professor in Paediatrics and Child Health at Stellenbosch University. 

My work focuses on earlier diagnosis, and on understanding the immune and metabolomic mechanisms that shape how the disease presents. 

A major goal is to develop biomarker-based, point-of-care diagnostics — tools that can help clinicians make faster, more confident decisions in real-world, high-burden settings. 

My broader expertise in paediatric neurology includes childhood epilepsy, neurogenetic disorders, cerebral palsy, and the neurological complications of infectious diseases. 

My research and clinical work are embedded at Tygerberg Hospital, where I divide my time between caring for children, leading a large academic department, and conducting collaborative translational research. 

Our laboratory work — including biomarker discovery, metabolomics, and immunological studies — happens through close collaboration with multidisciplinary laboratory teams. 

And our patient-facing studies, clinical cohorts, and prospective work are designed to ensure translation into real-world paediatric care. 

I’m grateful for the recognition that has supported this journey, including my NRF C1 Researcher Rating, and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam–NRF Desmond Tutu Doctoral Scholarship. 

I hold an MBChB, an MMed in Paediatrics, and a joint PhD through Stellenbosch University and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. I’m also a Fellow of the College of Paediatricians of South Africa and hold a Certificate in Paediatric Neurology. 

I’m thankful for my collaborative relationship with the SAMRC Centre for Tuberculosis, and for how closely this work aligns with the SAMRC mandate

This award belongs to my teams and collaborators

Thank you to the South African Medical Research Council.

Good evening, I’m Professor Olalaken Ayo-Yusuf, and I’m honoured to receive the SAMRC Scientific Merit Award, I am receiving the reconginition in the Silver Award category. 

I serve in the health sector as a dentist and a public health specialist, and my work has focused on   strengthening tobacco control and non-communicable disease prevention by generating policy-relevant evidence that protects populations — especially in low- and middle-income countries. 

I’m a  Professor of Public Health and Head and Chairperson of the School of Health Systems and Public Health at University of Pretoria.  I’m also the Founder and Director of the Africa Centre for Tobacco Industry Monitoring and Policy Research (ATIM), and the Executive Director of the National Council Against Smoking, which hosts South Africa’s national Quitline. 

My research focuses on tobacco control, the commercial determinants of health, and prevention science — including specialist work on smokeless tobacco, novel nicotine products, and policy-focused public health research that can be implemented in real-world settings. 

My work happens across academic, policy, and community spaces. My time is divided between office-based research and supervision, field-based intervention studies, and direct engagement with policy processes at national and international levels. 

I’m grateful for recognitions that have supported this journey, including: the inaugural Mira Aghi Award from the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco in 2024, being elected a Fellow of SRNT in 2022,  a B1 NRF rating in 2024, and being elected a Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa. 

My relationship with the South African Medical Research Council has been long-standing — through leadership of SAMRC-supported research, collaboration with SAMRC units, and service in national advisory roles. 

This Silver Award belongs to my team, my students, my collaborators, and all partners working to reduce tobacco-related harm across Africa.

I’m Professor Jonathan Peter, and I’m honoured to receive the SAMRC Scientific Merit Award — Gold Award. 

I’m a Professor of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at University of Cape Town, Head of the Division of Allergology and Clinical Immunology in the Department of Medicine, and Director of the Allergy and Immunology Unit at the UCT Lung Institute.  I’m also a NIHR Global Research Professor. 

I’m a specialist physician and allergist — with an MBChB, FCP(SA), PhD, and a Certificate in Allergology, and I’m registered with the HPCSA. 

 The focus of my research is on severe cutaneous adverse drug reactions, including tuberculosis- and HIV-associated drug hypersensitivity. I also work in areas such as hereditary angioedema, urticaria, vaccine allergy and safety, and environmental allergy. 

My approach integrates immunopathogenesis, multi-omic discovery science,
clinical trials, and implementation research — with a strong focus on African and other low- and middle-income settings. Day to day, I lead a multidisciplinary research group of clinicians, laboratory scientists, and trainees, based at UCT and the UCT Lung Institute, with collaborative sites across South Africa and the continent. 

My time is divided between clinical care, laboratory-based discovery research, office-based supervision and grant leadership, and field-based clinical and implementation studies in academic hospitals, specialised laboratories, and community and referral healthcare settings. 

I’m grateful for recognitions that have supported this journey — including the NIHR Global Research Professorship, an EDCTP senior research fellowship, Wellcome Trust Climate Impact Awards,  and University of Cape Town Research Excellence and Distinguished Researcher Awards. I’m also proud to have previously received a South African Medical Research Council silver medal. 

My relationship with the SAMRC has been long-standing. As a funded investigator and research leader, SAMRC support has helped our work contribute directly to policy-relevant science, capacity building, and clinical and translational research that addresses South Africa’s highest-burden diseases. Thank you to the South African Medical Research Council.

I am Anneke Hesseling, and am honored to be receiving the SAMRC Scientific Merit Award in the Gold Award category. 

I am a South African clinician-scientist and my team’s work is dedicated to translational and family-centered tuberculosis research in children, adolescents, pregnant and breastfeeding women — especially in high-burden settings. 

I am a Distinguished Professor in Paediatrics and Child Health at Stellenbosch University, and I serve as Director of the Desmond Tutu TB Centre, where I also hold the NRF SARChI Chair in Paediatric Tuberculosis. 

For more than two decades, I have worked to ensure that high-quality evidence is generated to improve outcomes for children and others affected by tuberculosis. My focus has been on preventing TB in children, enabling earlier and more accurate diagnosis, and improving treatment by producing evidence robust enough to inform and change both national and global guidelines. Equally important, it has been ensuring that this evidence is translated into practice, expanding access to effective interventions for those who need them most.

A major part of my work has been in TB clinical trials for impact. I have designed and trials from phase 1 through phase 4, including Phase I/ II trials of novel TB medicines, TB treatment shortening in children, and prevention of drug susceptible and drug-resistant TB in children. This work has informed World Health Organization treatment over te past 10 years, including recommendations for all 2nd line TB drugs, treatment shortening and TB prevention (TB-CHAMP – including with funding from the SA MRC SHIP programme). 

I have published more than 400 peer-reviewed publications and have contrinuted to more than 20 lgobal guidelines on TB.

I contribute to global scientific leadership including serving on the Core WHO Child and Sdolescent TB Working Group, the WHO Treatment Advisory Dosing Group for TB (TAG), the WHO TB PADO (and WHO GAP-f (formulation development). several treatment guideline groups and the WHO TB Pregnancy Therapeutic working group.  I also serve on the NCAC in South Africa and am core member of the SA TB Think Tank’s Child, Adolescent and Maternal TB Task Team. I also chair the IMPAACT TB Scientific Committee and serve on the CDC-funded TBTC Core Science Group.

Capacity building and career mentorship are my passion. I have mentored and supervised more than 20 PhD candidates and many young and also established researchers in South Africa, the rest of Africa and internationally. 

I am grateful to work with a wonderful and dedicated team, despite the challenge of being fully research grant funded in the current geopolitical context.

Thank you to the South African Medical Research Council for this recognition to our centre and my group and also for your ongoing support of our work over the past 20 years.

I’m Professor Nelesh Govender, and I’m honoured to receive the SAMRC Scientific Merit Award — Gold Award. 

I’m a pathologist in clinical microbiology, and my work focuses  serious fungal and bacterial infections, and the growing challenge of antimicrobial resistance — especially in people with advanced HIV disease and in resource-limited settings. 

Today, I serve as Professor and Director of the Wits Mycology Division in the School of Pathology at University of the Witwatersrand, and I’m also a NIHR Global Health Research Professor. I hold honorary and visiting roles with University of Cape Town, University of Exeter, and City St George's, University of London. At the centre of my research is to understand infections at population level.

We study the epidemiology of fungal and bacterial infections, their genomics, and patterns of antimicrobial resistance — and from that, we design and evaluate ambitious public health and clinical trial interventions to improve outcomes for affected people. 

My work is based primarily at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, where I run a research laboratory with senior project leads and scientists. Our lab work spans diagnostic test evaluation, research participant sample testing, and detailed pathogen characterisation — including susceptibility testing, whole genome sequencing, and phylogenetic analyses. 

Alongside the laboratory, I work with an office-based operations and data team, and with clinical field teams across South Africa — because high-impact infectious disease research depends on strong systems, strong data, and strong partnerships in the field. 

I’m grateful for recognitions that have supported this work, including being elected a Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa in 2025, a NIHR Global Health Research Professorship, election as a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, and my NRF B1 rating. 

My relationship with the SAMRC goes back many years. It began when I was appointed to head the national mycology reference laboratory at NICD in 2007. One example I’m proud of is our collaboration that contributed to the discovery of a novel fungal pathogen, Emergomyces africanus, which causes life-threatening infection in people living with HIV. 

This Gold Award belongs to the teams who do the work every day — in the lab, in clinics, in the field, and in data rooms — and to the patients and communities who make research possible.

Thank you to the South African Medical Research Council.

I’m Professor Soraya Seedat, and I’m honoured to receive the SAMRC Scientific Merit Award — Platinum Award. 

I am a Professor of Psychiatry and the Executive Head of the Department of Psychiatry at Stellenbosch University. I’m also the Director of the SAMRC Extramural Unit on the Genomics of Brain Disorders, a role I’ve held since 2019. 

I’m a psychiatrist by training, and for more than 25 years my work has focused on improving mental health and overall wellbeing of people affected by trauma and adversity — especially in low-resource contexts. 

I’ve worked across psychiatric epidemiology and basic neuroscience, using approaches that include cross-cultural diagnostic assessment, genomics, neuroimaging, biobehavioural methods, and the evaluation of pharmacological and psychological interventions. 

A major focus of my work has been posttraumatic stress disorder and anxiety disorders — understanding risk and resilience and translating evidence into better prevention and treatment.  I have also contributed to work in areas such as neuro-HIV, because mental health and physical health are inseparable. 

I’m often described as an internationally recognised expert in PTSD, and I’ve been called the foremost researcher in psychotraumatology on the African continent. 

But for me, what matters most is impact — whether our research helps people heal, function, and thrive after trauma. 

I’m also deeply committed to building capacity. Over the years, I’ve led and been extensively involved in leadership development, mentoring, and strengthening the next generation of mental health researchers, neuroscientists, and clinicians across Africa and other low- and middle-income contexts. 

I have been a recipient of the South African MRC Gold Scientific Achievement Award, the ESTSS Wolter de Loos Distinguished Contribution Award, and recent Stellenbosch University awards for research excellence and postgraduate supervision. 

My relationship with the SAMRC started through Postdoctoral Fellowship, mentored by Professor Dan Stein, and later became co-director of the SAMRC Unit on Anxiety and Stress Disorders in 2003. 

I am indebted to the SAMRC for supporting my career — and the careers of countless mentees over many years. 

I’m Professor Jonny MahlanguI accept this award with gratitude — and I accept it on behalf of the many people who make specialised care and clinical research possible: patients and families, nurses and clinicians, laboratory scientists, trainees, and collaborators across South Africa and beyond. 

I am a clinical haematologist, and my work has been dedicated to improving outcomes for people living with bleeding disorders — an area that remains underfunded and underprioritized.Today, I serve in several roles. I am the Academic Head and Chief Specialist in the Department of Molecular Medicine and Haematology at the NHLS and the University of the Witwatersrand. 

I am also a Full Professor of Haematology at Wits, the Head of Clinical Haematology at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital, Director of the WFH International Training Centre in Johannesburg, and Director of the Clinical Haematology Research Unit at Wits Health Consortium. 

My research focuses on developing novel therapies for bleeding disorders. And over the years, I have led 125 multicentre, grant-funded international clinical trials to address gaps in evidence and access. 

I have invested extensively in training, mentorship, and capacity building — so that specialised care can be sustained and scaled. 

I’ve also been privileged to serve the profession in leadership roles. I have been elected twice as President of the South African Society of Haematology, twice as President of the College of Pathologists of South Africa, and twice as Chairman of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Council of the South African Haemophilia Foundation. 

I have served on scientific boards, contributed to scientific committees, held editorial board roles, and reviewed for a wide range of journals.

Over the past three decades, I have authored or co-authored 350 peer-reviewed publications, including work in leading international journals — and I’m proud that so much of this contribution has ensured that African data and African realities are represented in global health research. 

 I have been graced with reconginition that enables more people to hear of my work and its impact.Internationally, honours have included awards from the American Society of Haematology, the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis, and others that reflect not only my work, but the work of teams and patients who make research possible. 

Nationally, I’ve been privileged to receive recognitions from professional bodies and institutions, including awards at the University of the Witwatersrand, and service and leadership roles across the sector. 

My relationship with the SAMRC is also central to this moment. I have served as an SAMRC Board member for nine years, including two terms as Chair. 

I have seen, first-hand, how sustained research investment strengthens the country — not only through publications, but through capacity, partnerships, translation, and impact.

So, what does this Presidential Award represent for me?

It represents both honour and responsibility. A reminder to keep pushing for a future where: Specialised care is not limited by geography. Advanced therapies do not become symbols of inequality. And people with bleeding disorders can access the standard of care that science makes possible.

Thank you to the SAMRC for this honour, and for your commitment to research excellence and national impact. 

Thank you to my colleagues, collaborators, and trainees. And thank you to my family for the support that makes a demanding life in medicine possible.