Associate Professor Phumla Zuleika Sinxadi is a clinical pharmacologist and Head of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology in the Department of Medicine at the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa. She is the Deputy Director of the SAMRC/UCT Platform for Pharmacogenomics Research and Translation Unit and serves as Chair of the Department of Medicine Research Committee. In addition, she is a Subject Matter Expert in Clinical Pharmacology for the Design, Analyze and Communicate program at the Gates Foundation and Chief Medical Officer for Pharmacometrics Africa. She trained at UCT (MBChB, MMed, PhD) and completed additional specialist training in human pharmacology through the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine (UK). Her career includes international experience through an internship at Novartis, and a WHO/TDR Clinical Research Fellowship at GlaxoSmithKline, where she contributed to translational drug development programmes.

Her research focuses on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacogenomics of antiretroviral and other priority medicines, with the goal of optimizing treatment efficacy and safety in African populations. She leads and collaborates on multiple nationally funded studies and has an established track record of peer-reviewed publications. An NRF C2-rated scientist, she has supervised a pipeline of postgraduate students and is committed to building sustainable research capacity in clinical pharmacology and pharmacogenomics in Africa. Her work sits at the interface of discovery and implementation, generating and reviewing evidence to inform clinical guidelines, policy, and precision medicine approaches in resource-constrained settings.

Contact Details

Address:

Department of Medicine, J Floor, Old Main Building, Groote Schuur Hospital, Observatory, 7925
Tel office: +27 (0)21 406 6200
Email: phumla.sinxadi@uct.ac.za