Page 8 - SAMRC AnnualReport 2025-26

A NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT AND CEO

As an organisation tasked with generating evidence
The 2025/2026 financial to address South Africa’s quadruple burden of
disease, maternal, newborn and child health, HIV
year has reinforced a and tuberculosis, non-communicable diseases, and
interpersonal violence, we are continuously refining
defining shift in how we how we produce knowledge that is both responsive

pursue our mandate and actionable.
as the SAMRC, with Our theme for the 2025/2026 Annual Report is
“Artificial Intelligence in medical and health research”
the visible increasing to highlight that AI is fast becoming a core pillar of
integration of artificial future health innovation in South Africa and abroad.

intelligence (AI) and Across the SAMRC’s research units and centres,
we are leveraging data-driven tools to strengthen
advanced technologies disease surveillance, improve predictive modelling,
into the fabric of health and accelerate the translation of research into
policy-relevant insights. From epidemiological
research. modelling within our HIV and TB research platforms
to data analytics supporting non-communicable
disease studies and digital tools enhancing violence
and injury surveillance, these advancements are
PROFESSOR
NTOBEKO NTUSI expanding our ability to interrogate complex health
challenges with greater precision and speed.

Importantly, the adoption of AI enhances our
capacity; it does not replace the foundational
role of human expertise. Scientific inquiry remains
inherently human: it is driven by critical thinking,
ethical judgement, and contextual understanding.
AI augments this process by enabling researchers to
work more efficiently with large, complex datasets,
identify patterns that might otherwise remain
hidden, and generate insights that inform targeted
interventions. However, it is our researchers, their
experience, discipline, and commitment to public
health, who ensure that these tools are applied
meaningfully and ethically within the South African
context, and this expertise ultimately extends more
broadly within the region and abroad.

Within the SAMRC, several research units are
advancing the application of AI and digital
innovation to directly support our mandate. Our
burden of disease research continues to evolve
through improved data integration and modelling
techniques, strengthening national health planning.
Units focused on genomics and infectious diseases
are exploring computational approaches to

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