Current research focus: My research explores the non-communicable disease risk factors in Africans using a multi-disciplinary approach to characterize the involvement of genetic, molecular, physiological and lifestyle determinants and their interaction. A major focus of my research is to understand the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes in black Africans, which we have shown to be different to populations of European ancestry.

Biography: Julia Goedecke is a Chief Specialist Scientist within the Biomedical Research and Innovation Platform (BRIP) at the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC). She holds honorary Professorships at the Universities of Cape Town and the Witwatersrand in South Africa and the University of Stirling in Scotland. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate (Doctor Honoris Causa) from the Faculty of Medicine at Umeå University in Sweden in 2018. Julia is a registered dietician with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) and a National Research Foundation C1-rated Scientist. She is currently an associate editor for the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism and Frontiers in Sports and Active living, and on the editorial board of Annals of Human Biology. Julia is a regular reviewer for many international and local funding agencies and journals, and is responsible for supervising postgraduate students to completion.