Professor Angela Mathee held the position of Director: SAMRC Environment & Health Research Unit (EHRU) between 2007 and 2021, and currently serves as Chief Specialist Scientist in EHRU as well as, since March 2022, Executive Director: Transformation. She is a Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg and a Research Associate at Nelson Mandela University. Prior to the SAMRC, she gained work experience in local government (the City of Johannesburg), the public health service and the private sector.

Mathee is a B2-rated scientist, and a founding member of the Public Health Association of South Africa. She is a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and of the South African National Health Research Committee. She has served on World Health Organization guideline development groups for housing and health, indoor air pollution and lead exposure. Her research findings on the prevalence of lead exposure in South Africa have contributed to the phasing out of lead in petrol and paint in the country, a range of public education and other interventions, as well as the development of the National Department of Health’s Lead Exposure Reduction Strategy. In 2014 the Alfred Nzo prize for environmental health excellence was bestowed on her by the Minister of Health, and she is also a past recipient of the Shoprite-Checkers Women of the Year competition (Health Category).

Following undergraduate degrees in microbiology and biochemistry, Mathee obtained a Master of Science degree in Environmental Epidemiology and Policy from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a PhD in Public Health from the University of the Witwatersrand. She is currently completing a Master of Arts degree in Workplace Coaching and Mentoring at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.