cathartic june 2009 draft - university of cape town

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TheCATHARTIC ALUMNI MAGAZINE | FACULTY OF HEALTH SCIENCES | 2009 Contents Features Practicing medicine on the Roof of Africa ___________________________ 2 Red Cross War Memorial Hospital unveils new state-of-the-art Operating Theatre Complex _________________________ 8 Taking health to the community ____ 11 Call to aid med students in Zim _____ 19 Zimbabwe and Gaza in the spotlight _ 20 Table Mountain ablaze ____________ 20 Faculty News Master and student trade places ______ 5 The Animal Unit establishes a new embryo transfer laboratory __________ 6 Faculty mourns death of student______ 8 RAG —Where in the World? ________ 9 IIDMM earns top marks in international review __________________________ 12 Women in Science honours_________ 12 Winning formula for Sports Science _ 15 Beautiful music in the Clinical Skills Lab ____________________________ 16 Two new deputy deans take up the reins ___________________________ 18 90th anniversary celebrations of the Department of Medicine ___________ 19 Inaugural lectures __________ 17 Publications Come wind, come weather __________ 4 Trespass__________________________ 4 Reunions and Alumni News A letter … and a website … from the trenches _________________________ 5 Alumni concert rocks the Baxter _____ 6 Travels then … and now ____________ 7 Okreglicki first South African home in Marathon des Sables _______________13 In Memoriam ____________________ 14 Reunions 2008 ___________________ 23 Med 10-ers come up with the goods ___ 1 In Memoriam ____________________ 14 Where are they now? News of old friends and colleagues ___ 24 Challenging times at FHS As 2009 draws to a close, it gives me great pleasure to write the opening words of the latest issue of the Cathartic. Once again, the Faculty has faced— and overcome—many challenges this year; from taking to the streets with doctors and medical support staff to fight for the Occupation Specific Dispensation (OSD), to providing emotional support for members of the student body following the tragic murder of one of our first-year students. We have celebrated with academic staff who have been awarded significant grants by both South African and international funding agencies, and congratulated a record number of PhD graduates, among others. Several of our academics have been elected to positions with prestigious professional bodies, ranging from Professor Graham Louw of the Department of Human Biology being appointed president of the Anatomical Society of Southern Africa, to Professor Janet Seggie of the Department of Medicine being the first woman to be elected as the Arthur Landau Lecturer by the Fellows and Councillors of the College of Physicians of South Africa. Professor Gary Maartens of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology was also elected president of the newly formed College of Clinical Pharmacologists. Our current students, at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, continue to make us proud, with impressive achievements in both their academic endeavours, and in their personal capacities, through their interests and in the sporting arena. Their compassion and empathy has also ensured a high level of charitable involvement, from their continued work at SHAWCO, to raising funds for school equipment in under-resourced schools, and support for the people of Zimbabwe at the height of the political and social unrest in that country this year. Research remains a priority in the Faculty and we have seen several of our pivotal research projects taking some remarkable steps forward—an example of this is the first clinical tests of South African-developed HIV vaccines. The Faculty of Health Sciences welcomed two new deputy Deans to the management team, following the announcement of the imminent retirement of deputy Dean, Prof Kit Vaughan, as he takes up a new challenge in partnership with the University. A decision was taken to split the two major elements of his role and appoint two part- time deputy Deans—giving these experienced academics the opportunity to continue to pursue their areas of academic endeavour, while making this important contribution to Faculty life. Prof Sue Kidson has been appointed deputy Dean for Postgraduate Affairs, and Prof Gregory Hussey has taken on the portfolio of deputy Dean for Research. I am sure you join me in wishing them every success in their new roles. As I am sure you will have found during your years of study, the Faculty of Health Sciences is a family, and as such, we continue to come together to celebrate achievements and band together in difficult times, and 2009 has been no different. I wish you well over the festive season and everything of the best for 2010. Dean, Professor Marian Jacobs.

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TheCATHARTIC ALUMNI MAGAZINE | FACULTY OF HEALTH SCIENCES | 2009

Contents Features Practicing medicine on the Roof of Africa ___________________________ 2 Red Cross War Memorial Hospital unveils new state-of-the-art Operating Theatre Complex _________________________ 8 Taking health to the community ____ 11 Call to aid med students in Zim _____ 19 Zimbabwe and Gaza in the spotlight _ 20 Table Mountain ablaze ____________ 20 Faculty News Master and student trade places ______ 5 The Animal Unit establishes a new embryo transfer laboratory __________ 6 Faculty mourns death of student______ 8 RAG —Where in the World? ________ 9 IIDMM earns top marks in international review __________________________ 12 Women in Science honours_________ 12 Winning formula for Sports Science _ 15 Beautiful music in the Clinical Skills Lab ____________________________ 16 Two new deputy deans take up the reins ___________________________ 18 90th anniversary celebrations of the Department of Medicine ___________ 19 Inaugural lectures __________ 17 Publications Come wind, come weather __________ 4 Trespass __________________________ 4

Reunions and Alumni News A letter … and a website … from the trenches _________________________ 5 Alumni concert rocks the Baxter _____ 6 Travels then … and now ____________ 7 Okreglicki first South African home in Marathon des Sables _______________13 In Memoriam ____________________ 14 Reunions 2008 ___________________ 23 Med 10-ers come up with the goods ___ 1 In Memoriam ____________________ 14 Where are they now? News of old friends and colleagues ___ 24

Challenging times at FHS

As 2009 draws to a close, it gives me great pleasure to write the opening words of the latest issue of the Cathartic.

Once again, the Faculty has faced—and overcome—many challenges this year; from taking to the streets with doctors and medical support staff to fight for the Occupation Specific Dispensation (OSD), to providing emotional support for members of the student body following the tragic murder of one of our first-year students.

We have celebrated with academic staff who have been awarded significant grants by both South African and international funding agencies, and congratulated a record number of PhD graduates, among others.

Several of our academics have been elected to positions with prestigious professional bodies, ranging from Professor Graham Louw of the Department of Human Biology being appointed president of the Anatomical Society of Southern Africa, to Professor Janet Seggie of the Department of Medicine being the first woman to be elected as the Arthur Landau Lecturer by the Fellows and Councillors of the College of Physicians of South Africa. Professor Gary Maartens of the Division

of Clinical Pharmacology was also elected president of the newly formed College of Clinical Pharmacologists.

Our current students, at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, continue to make us proud, with impressive achievements in both their academic endeavours, and in their personal capacities, through their interests and in the sporting arena.

Their compassion and empathy has also ensured a high level of charitable involvement, from their continued work at SHAWCO, to raising funds for school equipment in under-resourced schools, and support for the people of Zimbabwe at the height of the political and social unrest in that country this year.

Research remains a priority in the Faculty and we have seen several of our pivotal research projects taking some remarkable steps forward—an example of this is the first clinical tests of South African-developed HIV vaccines.

The Faculty of Health Sciences welcomed two new deputy Deans to the management team, following the announcement of the imminent retirement of deputy Dean, Prof Kit Vaughan, as he takes up a new challenge in partnership with the University. A decision was taken to split the two major elements of his role and appoint two part-time deputy Deans—giving these experienced academics the opportunity to continue to pursue their areas of academic endeavour, while making this important contribution to Faculty life. Prof Sue Kidson has been appointed deputy Dean for Postgraduate Affairs, and Prof Gregory Hussey has taken on the portfolio of deputy Dean for Research. I am sure you join me in wishing them every success in their new roles.

As I am sure you will have found during your years of study, the Faculty of Health Sciences is a family, and as such, we continue to come together to celebrate achievements and band together in difficult times, and 2009 has been no different.

I wish you well over the festive season and everything of the best for 2010.

Dean, Professor Marian Jacobs.

TheCATHARTIC

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Practicing medicine on the roof of Africa Working in rural Lesotho at the Maluti Adventist Hospital has given Dr Wilbert Hurlow (MBChB 1970) and his wife, Lyn, a life of fulfilment and adventure … By Melanie Jackson

FEATURE

Above: the sleepy little hamlet where the hospital is located. Left: Dr Wil Hurlow (far right) with his wife Lyn (second right) and two stu-dents doing electives at the hospital—(far left) Nonthut-huko Mvundla and (second left) Jo-Ann Kammies.

Situated in the foothills of the Maluti Mountains, just around the corner from Ficksburg, but over the Lesotho border in the village of Mapoteng, the Maluti Adventist Hospital provides care for more than 7 000 admissions each year, sees to the safe arrival of more than 1 900 babies annually, and performs more than 3 500 operations. Maluti has had 16 UCT doctors, many UCT/Groote Schuur nurses and many UCT medical students over the years.

Indeed, its current Director, Dr Wilbert Hurlow, is a 1970 MBChB graduate of the University of Cape Town, and his wife, Lyn, is a physiotherapist who graduated in the class of 1969. Keeping it all in the family, their sons, Colin and Glenn, are also UCT graduates from the Faculty of Commerce.

But Maluti Hospital’s links with UCT go

much further back than that—right back to the beginning, in fact! The hospital was established in 1951 by Dr Francis Slate, a graduate of the class of 1947, and was followed by Dr Warren Staples who graduated in the class of 1949.

Dr Hurlow proudly tells me that the heritage of excellent patient care as taught at UCT/Groote Schuur is being passed on to doctors from all over the Southern Africa region in that Maluti is a training site for registrars who do their academic work for Family Medicine with the Bloemfontein Medical School.When I congratulate him, he smiles deprecatingly, and his wife, Lyn, who has been quiet up to now, quickly interjects: “He’s modest, but it was his dream, and now he has achieved it!”

With a little prompting, Dr Hurlow

explains how he came to spend 26 years at this mission hospital. Following graduation, he completed an internship at Groote Schuur Hospital in surgery and gynaecology, and this was followed by five years at Maluti Hospital, from 1972 to 1977. He then joined the Faculty as a lecturer in the Anatomy Department, while studying for a primary in surgery. From there, he was drafted into the army and thereafter completed six months at Livingstone Hospital.

And then it was back to Maluti Hospital from 1982 to 1984. The years 1985 to 1990 were spent in the Surgery Department at UCT, followed by 3 years at Conradie Hospital. Back to Maluti in 1994, to take up the superintendent’s post again. (He had been in charge from 1974 to 1977 as well as for the period '82 to '84.)

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Dr Hurlow is not comfortable talking about himself, and before long, the conversation returns to Maluti Adventist Hospital. He explains that it is one of eight mission hospitals in Lesotho, and in addition to the admissions and maternity cases, there are some 240 000 outpatient attendances a year, which take place at both the hospital and outlying facilities. The hospital and its outreach programmes support a community well in excess of 100,000 people living in the 264 villages in its health service area but many patients come from many other parts of the country as well. It is the hospital of choice for many people—situated only 30kms from Ficksburg in the Free State and 70kms north of Lesotho’s capital, Maseru, and its health service area covers a significant portion of this small country.

Like all sub-Saharan countries, Lesotho is facing a high HIV/Aids infection rate, and a great deal of the work undertaken in the hospital relates both directly and indirectly to the pandemic. A note on the hospital’s website explains that the first case of HIV was diagnosed on February 14, 1991, some 18 years ago. Of a population of a little more than 1.8 million in 2008, UNAIDS estimates that approximately 270 000 people are living with HIV, giving a prevalence rate in adults aged 15 to 49 of 23.2%. In addition, UNAIDS estimates that there are 110 000 Aids orphans up to the age of 17 in the country. Outreach programmes in the hospital include a Wellness Centre that provides the following services: Community Education, voluntary counselling and testing, life-skills training, community home-based care, orphans and vulnerable children and income generating activities.

The hospital is also home to the Maluti School of Nursing, which was established in 1958. It has graduated approximately 500 registered nurses, more than 200 nurse assistants, and in excess of 350 registered midwives. The school welcomes applicants from throughout Africa and has graduated students from South Africa, Swaziland, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, as well as Zaire, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Kenya and Sudan.

On the medical front, the hospital accepts registrars from Malawi, Madagascar, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and, of course, Lesotho.

Dr Hurlow is visibly pleased when he tells me that the first Malawian registrar completed his studies in 2008 and is graduating this year!

The hosting of registrars from Lesotho is made possible through sponsorship with Boston University. The Lesotho Boston Health Alliance facilitates the presence of three registrars at Maluti Hospital, and these doctors are being trained with the intention that they stay in the country to serve the communities that they grew up in.

UCT graduates who have worked at Maluti Adventist Hospital In addition to Dr Wil Hurlow, and his wife Lyn, not to mention the hospital’s first two heads, the following UCT graduates have made the Maluti Adventist Hospital home at one time or another:

Robert Buckley, Robert Holbrook, Herbert Clifford, Keith Gunston, Mike Cooper, Walter Birkenstock, Leslie Ramages, David Glass, Allan Handysides,

Andre Birkenstock, Lincoln Solomon, David Allan and John Werner.

Dr Hurlow is quick to add that they are always looking to increase their numbers of UCT Maluti Alumni and would welcome visitors and volunteers!

Please contact the hospital at [email protected] if you can help or would just like to reconnect!

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There will be a 60th class reunion of the Class of 1949 on 15 November 2009.

It takes the form of a luncheon at noon at Suikerbossie Restaurant in Hout Bay.

The convenors can be contacted as

follows:

Morris Bruk 021 438 8775, or [email protected].

Ernest Kaplan (telephone and fax)

021 434 5102.

Gerald Budow 021 434 6940 or [email protected].

Upcoming reunion events

Alumni office update Dear Medical Alumni,

Welcome to Cathartic 2009. We trust that you will find the e-zine informative and enjoyable. Please remember that this is your publication, so we urge you to send us interesting stories for future editions.

A new department within the Faculty has been created – that of Development, Communication, Alumni and Marketing. Headed up by Melanie Jackson, with Joan Tuff as the Alumni and Bequest Officer, this office is situated within the Dean’s Suite at Medical School. When you are in Cape Town, why not pop in and say hello to us? We would love to meet you and show you around the Faculty.

The Heritage Society, UCT’s bequest society, that includes all faculties within the University, has now been relaunched with the former Vice-Chancellor, Dr Stuart Saunders, as patron.

The old Barnard Fuller Society, which was formed at the time of the ‘Looking on into the Future’ fundraising campaign in 1995, has now been absorbed into the Heritage Society. Apart from holding smaller functions at medical school, new members will be invited to the larger Heritage Society events. As you are aware, State funds only cover the basic needs of the University hence, like every great university in the world, UCT cannot thrive and grow to meet its future challenges without the generous support of its alumni and friends. Should you require additional information, please contact Joan Tuff.

There is a tear-out form within the publication. We urge you to fill it in and let us have your news.

The information will be collated and may well be featured in a future edition of Cathartic!

Please forward the magazine to your former classmates who may have lost contact with UCT. They can contact Joan Tuff to ensure that we have their contact details. Until next time! Melanie and Joan

Melanie Jackson and Joan Tuff.

Come Wind, Come Weather – Book Review by Dave Beattie (in Sailing SA) By Brookes (MBChB 1950) & Jeanne Heywood (MA Arts 1966). This delightful publication is proof positive that local can, indeed, be ‘lekker’. Frequently local publications fall short of even half-decent standards when it comes to quality of presentation and/or writing. But, of course, there are exceptions, and Brookes and Jeanne Heywood’s account of four years of sailing adventures in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Mediterranean is one of them.

It is refreshingly unpretentious, very entertaining and always interesting. Above all it is beautifully written and ought to be a benchmark for other aspiring sailing/travel writers in South Africa.

A retired academic couple, the Heywoods describe a seemingly pre-ordained sailing route from their first meetings as teenagers, to the day

Book Review: Come wind, come weather Brookes decided they needed to go blue water sailing; across an ocean. So, turning their Cape Town home and garden into a boat builder’s

yard, they built a 40-footer they called Adamastor, and eventually set off to fulfil a dream. They write of the ups and downs of life aboard, of tranquil bays and days, and of the violence of the sea that can so easily turn that dream into a disaster. The presentation of their tale is quite unusual. Most of the accounts and observations are based on letters to friends, and husband and wife, skipper and mate, take turns at delivering the narratives. That

lends a warm, personal touch, and by the book’s end, the reader almost feels as though the Heywoods have become old friends.

Armchair sailors, and those more seriously contemplating taking the plunge, as did the Heywoods so many years ago, will find much to enjoy in their story. I certainly did.

Class of 1949 celebrates 60th

Class of 1994: 20—22 November 2009 Class of 1969: 27—29 November 2009 Class of 1959: 4—6 December 2009 Class of 1984: 11—13 December 2009 Most of the reunion activities are held in and around the Faculty of Health Sciences, and it is a great way to reconnect with classmates. For further information, please contact Joan Tuff on 021 406 6686 or [email protected].

2009 UCT MBChB reunions

Book Review: Trespass

Dawn Garisch’s (MBChB 1981) new novel, Trespass, published in SA by Kwela Books, tells the story of Phyllis, a middle-aged woman in the 1950s, who finds work as a matron at a boys’ boarding school in Cape Town. Haunted by the shame she brought on herself and her family – by falling pregnant by her cousin and giving birth to a child at sixteen – Phyllis channels her longing into a life of service.

When a woman arrives to enrol her young son, Phyllis believes her to be the baby she gave up for adoption as an adolescent. In comforting Michael, who is being bullied, Phyllis finds an escape from her untenable circumstances, even though she knows what she’s doing is wrong.

Dawn Garisch has published one novel, three youth novels as well as poetry, has had a short play and a short film produced, and has written for both newspaper and television. Dawn runs workshops on creativity. She has two grown sons and lives in Cape Town.

-Melanie Jackson

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UCT staff and students, as well as alumni and visitors can easily access a range of textbooks, stationery and official university apparel and gifts under one roof - thanks to the UCT Campus Store.

The official on-campus retail haven, the store also offers miscellaneous products and is modelled on the ivy-league campus store concept.

The store is operated by the Atlas Group of companies, an official distributor of UCT apparel and gifts, who also brought the university brand to the heart of Rondebosch. The store has also display cabinets at the International Academic Programmes Office and the Faculty of Health Sciences.

It has three divisions: apparel and gifts, textbooks and stationery.

The store, which is open from 08h00 to 17h00 on Mondays to Fridays, and from 09h00 to 13h00 on Saturdays, also launched a website: www.atlas-group.co.za, to allow clients to shop online.

Orders can also be made via email: [email protected].

UCT campus store

Some 20 years ago, from 1983 to 1987, Johan Brink was a student in the medical class of Professor Dimitri Novitsky.

Until he left South Africa in 1987, Novitsky, a protégé of one Professor Chris Barnard, did groundbreaking research on the hormonal and other physiological effects of brain death on potential donor-organ function. He came up with novel concepts of how to manage and treat donors for optimal donor-organ usage - not only for the heart, but also for the kidney and liver.

He left in 1987 to help Barnard set up a top heart-transplant unit in Oklahoma City in the US. But recently, Brink and Novitsky met up again when the latter wanted to settle some unfinished business. About four or five years ago, Novitsky, Professor of

Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of South Florida, asked Brink to supervise his research towards a doctoral degree at UCT. Brink, now associate professor in UCT's Chris Barnard Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, is also surgeon-in-charge of the heart transplant unit at Groote Schuur Hospital these days.

Novitsky had handed in an MD thesis before he moved to the US, explains Brink, but never got to the revisions the examiners had proposed.

In December 2008, Brink was on hand to watch Novitsky graduate with a doctorate in health sciences. (Novitsky was meant to graduate in June, but couldn't make the ceremony.) It's a rarity, noted Brink, for a student to help a mentor finish a degree.

- The Monday Paper

Master and student trade places

Dear Editor I graduated from UCT in 1970 with the MBChB degree, and obtained the MMed (Path) degree in 1976. Since then, I have been working in the USA. Over the last few years, influenced by what I have experienced at different points and places in my career as a pathologist, I commenced some personal writing.

I have entitled the piece "Patience Lost - Lines from a Hospital Trench”. The work has nothing to do with any hospital or person in particular, but expresses my consolidated personal point of view after being in the USA for many years and having worked and taught in institutions here and, of course, at UCT. Even though the writing is from the United States, I imagine that some of my reflections will resonate with those held by academicians in South Africa as well. The site is at www.yourbiopsyandmore.com. Sincerely, Lucien E. Nochomovitz, MBChB, MMed (Path)

A letter … and a website … from the trenches

Prof Dimitri Novitsky and Prof Johan Brink at Graduation , December 2008.

TheCATHARTIC The Cathartic is published by the Faculty of Health Sciences at the

University of Cape Town.

Contributors: Helen Théron, Tina Barsby, Joan Tuff, Melanie Jackson, Morgan Morris, Myolisi

Gophe, Katherine Traut, and Raymond Botha

Private Bag X3, Observatory, 7935 South Africa Tel: +27 (0)21 406 6686 Fax: +27 (0)86 612 6390

There are many alumni for whom we do not have email addresses. Please forward this publication to your former classmates who may have lost touch with UCT. They can

contact Joan Tuff to ensure we have their latest contact details so we can invite them to events and send them all the latest news about their alma mater.

Email: [email protected]

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The audience in the Baxter Theatre were in for a treat on August 13 as some of South Africa’s most renowned musicians – and products of the South African College of Music (SACM) – lit up the stage at the annual UCT Alumni Concert. Now in its third year, the concert celebrates SACM graduates and, at the same time, aims to raise funds for music bursaries.

Award-winning soprano Pretty Yende gave a taste of her talent. UCT graduate, Nina Schumann, associate professor in piano at the University of Stellenbosch and her husband, Louis Magalhães, delivered a world-class performance.

Jimmy Dludlu, a regular on the South African music circuit, jazzed up the evening, as did popular singer Melanie Scholtz, who lectured in jazz vocal studies at UCT from 2004 to 2005.

Rounding off the evening was the ever-popular UCT Big Band, directed by Mike Campbell. “And they all did this for free,” said deputy vice-chancellor Professor Thandabantu Nhlapo. “We really appreciate the fact that our

Alumni Concert rocks the Baxter former students wish to keep up their relationship with UCT. They consider that the university was central in opening doors to their careers and this is their way of giving back.”

Nhlapo said that the Department of Alumni and Development (DAD) was seriously considering the issue of sponsorship for future concerts. “This would then unlock the potential of the concert to generate funds to turn the bursaries idea into a reality.”

He also expressed his deep satisfaction that the concert had returned to the Baxter (last year it took place on upper campus). “It’s the four-cornered collaboration of the SACM, the Baxter, UCT’s DAD and the performers that really does it for us.”

Nhlapo gave special thanks to Associate Professor Mike Campbell, Professor Kamal Khan and Gillian Lindner, all of the SACM, as well as Dr Jim McNamara’s team at DAD: Lungile Jacobs, Jasmine Erasmus, Monde Mjebeza, Alex Plaatjies, Anita Wildeman and Thulani Madinginye, for their energy in organising the concert and making it a success.

- Monday Paper

UCT's strategic role as a global player, the state of higher education amid the recent financial meltdown and the international university ranking system were among the topics that Vice-Chancellor Dr Max Price tabled in his visit to Port Elizabeth, where he addressed UCT alumni on 14 July.

This talk was part of the Alumni Relations office's effort to introduce UCT alumni to Price's strategic goals - and his vision of UCT as an Afropolitan university and a global player in higher education.

"UCT as a global player positions us as an entity that knows more of our continent than any university - and we become the hub on the South that speaks to Africa and the rest of the world,'' he said.

He said UCT had to face its challenges head on, make the university a destination of choice for students, postdoctoral research fellows, staff, and researchers. The institution also had to retain experienced academics and meet the country's social and developmental needs.

VC pays a visit to the windy city

UCT will play a pivotal role in the Southern African Consortium for Research Excellence (SACORE), one of seven new international consortia formed by the Wellcome Trust's African Institutions Initiatives to develop local institutional capacity and health research. Underpinned by £30 million (R420 million) in funding from the trust, this initiative includes more than 50 institutions from 18 African countries, and hopes to get African universities more involved in African health research endeavours.

Home to some of the poorest countries in the world (the bottom-ranked 25 countries are in Africa), the continent carries a high burden of disease, particularly HIV, TB and malaria.

The seven consortia will be led by African institutions, with partners in Europe, the US and Australia. Their task will be to build a critical mass of sustainable local research capacity by strengthening universities and research institutions and developing vital networks.

The Wellcome Trust has also awarded R11 million to Honorary Associate Professor Stephen Lawn to continue his HIV research at UCT, in conjunction with the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and the IIDMM's Desmond Tutu Centre for HIV Research.

A prize fellowship was awarded to Kerryn van Veen to continue her work on pericardial tuberculosis, linked to Professor Bongani Mayosi (Department of Medicine) and Wilkinson's research groups.

Wellcome Trust funds consortium

As just about any medical journal will tell you, the laboratory mouse is the most commonly used animal-research model today.

The UCT Animal Unit, for example, houses up to 140 strains, totalling thousands of mice. The logistics - space, costs - can cause a few concerns. (The mice are kept under studiously-maintained, specified-pathogen-free or SPF conditions, which means specially designed cages, a prescribed diet, which is not cheap, and distinctive bedding.)

Which is why over the past two years the unit has slowly rolled out its own mouse-embryo-transfer laboratory, the first of its kind in the country. While embryo transfers are well estab-lished in the agricultural sector in South Africa, it's quite novel in laboratory-animal science and technology circles.

In this technique, embryos are flushed from the fallopian tubes of the genetic mother (usually one who carries natural pathogens) and im-planted into a cleaner, lab-bred foster mother.

Embryo transfers have a number of advan-tages. It's a better alternative to natural breeding for breeding a line of 'clean' mice (free of every-day mice pathogens, viruses or parasites); it's cheaper to import embryos than live mice when in search of a specific strain; and through cryopre-servation a particular, perhaps rare, strain can be stored until needed.

Until recently, however, the Animal Unit had little expertise in this field - they could har-vest the embryos well enough, but no more than that - and too little spare time to acquire the skills,

explains manager Hiram Arendse. But slowly, the varied and growing requests from researchers suggested that it was a niche the unit would soon have to fill.

"Even though embryo transfers are done routinely around the world, for us it was new technology," Arendse says.

They weren't short of reading material on the subject, but that has its limitations, explains fellow laboratory-animal technologist Jakobus Visser. "You can learn techniques in books," he says, "but the books don't describe the finer details of the work - how do you position the mouse, for exam-ple."

But the addition of Hylton Buntting from the Division of Immunology created the much-needed capacity.

Buntting had done embryo transfers in larger animals like cattle and sheep, but had trouble down-scaling his technique to mice. After some 50 attempts, he had yet to manage a successful implant.

Two weeks with experienced technicians at the Lyons labs of the National Centre for Scien-tific Research (CNRS) in France changed all that, however.

The trip has obviously paid off, and Buntting has managed three successful implants in his 13 attempts since his return, meaning three new litters. It's still early days, though, he cautions.

"In this kind of work, you can get it right once, and the next time you battle again. So it's a matter of repetition and practice."

The Animal Unit establishes a new embryo transfer laboratory

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Octogenarian is a Master in Ancient Cultures Norman Levy (MBChB 1952) is not your average retiree – while others have settled for mornings spent on the golf course and leisurely afternoon strolls, he was hard at work studying towards a Master of Philosophy in Ancient Cultures. And not only did he graduate from the University of Stellenbosch at the age of 81, he did so Cum Laude!

The chair of the Somerset Hospital board, Dr Levy explained that he enrolled for the two-year distance course to “keep his mind sharp”. He wryly admits that when he visited the library at the University of Stellenbosch, he was often mistaken for a professor and when asked whether he will continue his studies, he cryptically replied “knowledge is useful”. We await his next achievement!

Right: He is photographed with his wife, Myra Taylor (MBChB 1954) after the graduation. He is wearing the gown of the Royal College of General Practice of the United Kingdom, of which he is a Fellow.

Travels then … and now

Liz and Dave Zacks with Catherine Cullis at Spinnakers, Victoria, British Columbia. The intrepid campers at breakfast.

Sampling Ouzo in Greece (this may account for the state of the photograph!).

In 1969 I was working as a Senior House officer in the Department of O&G at Harare General Hospital in Salisbury, Rhodesia, with two of my classmates from Medical School, Dave Zacks and Mike Saunders. In August the three of us camped around Europe in a two-man tent, starting in Greece and ending in the UK.

Here, we started our specialist training, Dave in Radiology, me in Surgery in Edinburgh and Mike in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Dublin.

This year, 40 years later, I attended a Workshop on Interventional Endoscopy in Denver, Colorado - and having got that far, I realised that it would not cost much more to get a round-the– world ticket. First stop after Denver was Victoria on Vancouver Island, where Dave is now spending less time as a senior partner in a radiological practice and more time at the Royal Victoria Golf Club.

The last stop was Devonport on the north coast of Tasmania where Mike, having left Harare in Zimbabwe five years ago, is still doing Obstetrics and Gynaecology locums in between travelling to the UK to visit their son and daughter - and grandchildren. Thirty kilometres along the coast in Burnie I met up with another classmate, Mike Foote, also having left Zimbabwe and also doing Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

- Sydney Cullis (MBChB 1967)

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Faculty mourns death of student On Friday, 2 October 2009, hundreds of UCT staff and students and members of the community joined a protest march, following the killing of first-year medical student Pakiso Benny Moqobane on 28 September 2009.

This memorial march was in honour of Benny, and especially for the Faculty of Health Sciences to express their sadness as a campus community over this terrible event and claim back the safety and security of the neighbourhood and streets of Observatory.

The pre-march was addressed by the Vice-Chancellor Dr Max Price and he stated that he was angry: angry at the lack of freedom to walk between digs, the library and the university; at the gratuitous violence pervasive in South African society; with the government and the police for inadequate protection of the country's citizens; and at the entrenched drug culture in the Western Cape.

Thereafter the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Professor Marion Jacobs read out the rules for the march.

The march started at 11:45am on Friday, in the parking area of the Barnard Fuller building, on the Faculty of Health Sciences campus in Anzio Road. Some carried flowers; others held placards calling for the protection of students - and for peace and safety. Along the route, a floral tributes were laid in William Road, and a statement of concern was delivered by Professor Marian Jacobs. "We are deeply distressed by the untimely, unacceptable death of first-year

medical student, Pakiso Benny Moqobane. We are also concerned about the backdrop to the theft of this young life, for in our community around our faculty, the spiraling crime and violence has had a widespread effect on our students, staff and the very community that we serve as healthcare providers.

"This should never have happened; Pakiso should today be preparing for a career in health service to the community as a doctor. Instead, we are mourning the loss of a young man who had so much potential.

This tragedy has sparked outrage and horror. Through our actions today we convey our condemnation of this cruel act.

"We call upon the South African Police Services, the university and broader community to commit to reclaiming the security of our community and making this a safe place to learn, to work and to be."

Immediately after the march, everyone returned to the Health Sciences campus, where a memorial gathering was held to celebrate Benny's life.

- Lameez Mohd

Staff and students gather at the site of the shooting during the march.

On Wednesday, 16 September 2009, the doors of the new Operating Theatre Complex at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital were opened for business, heralding a new chapter in the lifesaving history of this acclaimed paediatric facility.

According to a spokesman for the Children’s Hospital Trust, the fundraising arm of the hospital: “The new state-of-the-art facility includes eight fully equipped operating theatres; three fully digitalised. The new digital installation is the first of its kind and sophistication in sub-Saharan Africa and is technically on par with the most advanced installations in the US, Europe, Asia, Middle East and Australia.”

The Complex was built and equipped at a cost of R125-million and the new digital operating theatres together with a modern digital lecture facility will form part of a multidisciplinary training hub that will assist

other African nations to develop and improve their paediatric surgical skills. The potential provision of a new Clinical Skills Training Centre is under investigation. The new Complex also includes a new dedicated Cardiac Catheterisation Laboratory, a Central Processing Department, an Anaesthetic Suite and a Pain Management Unit.

For the first time since the Hospital was built in 1956, each operating theatre is designated to a sub-speciality; Emergency & Septic Orthopaedics, Burns, Neurosurgery & Spinal Orthopaedics (digitalised), General Endoscopic (digitalised), Urology & Plastics (digitalised), Cardiac, Ophthalmology (Eye) and an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) & Scopes Theatre.

“Surgeons are now positioned at the forefront of new developments in the surgery of children, particularly with respect to minimally invasive or 'keyhole' surgery. Every speciality has the privilege and responsibility to be leaders in their

respective fields. “The superb audio visual equipment installed

in three of the new theatres will mean that we can share what we do with our colleagues in South Africa, Africa and around the world. We are able to both teach and learn so that we can improve care for children requiring surgery,” says Professor Alastair Millar, Charles FM Saint Professor of Paediatric Surgery: The Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital.

The fundraising campaign kicked off in 2005 with a R4million pledge from an international philanthropic organisation, The ELMA Foundation. This was followed by funding from donors including Raymond Ackerman, Adcock Ingram Holdings Ltd, Engen Petroleum, The Harry Crossley Foundation, The Atlantic Philanthropies, Dutch Postcode Lotteries, the Walton Leycester Family Trust, Knorr-Bremse Global Care, Netcare and Edcon.

Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital unveils state-of-the-art Operating Theatre Complex

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A gigantic Spongebob Squarepants was the showpiece of this year's annual RAG Floats Parade (left), which took place in Adderley Street in Cape Town on 28 March.

Twelve floats took part in the parade, which also included a "Where's Wally" float, dancing men in diapers and a marching band.

The RAG floats procession is an established Cape Town event, dating back to 1925.

As the parade rolls through the city streets, passers-by throw spare change at the floats and student "panhandlers".

It was originally known as Hospital RAG (Remember and Give), and all funds raised went to Groote Schuur Hospital.

These days, the funds, which can amount to anything between R5 000 and R12 000, are then passed on by RAG to UCT's Students' Health and Welfare Centres Organisation (SHAWCO).

The theme of this year's parade was "Where in the World…?" and featured floats from UCT residences and societies.

RAG — Where in the World?

Dr Tricia Pickard, second left, was one of the big winners when the Faculty of Health Sciences made its 2008 undergraduate awards. Pickard picked up the Barnard Fuller Prize as the best MBChB graduate, the Mary Robertson Prize for Excellence, and the University Gold Medal in Medicine. Other multiple-award winners were Clare Surridge (four) and Dr Jocelyn Hellig (five), including the SA Academy of Family Practice Prize and the Kathy Chubb Memorial for her work in paediatrics and surgery.

Girls top the MBChB results 2008

Dr Tricia Pickard learns that she is the top MBChB student of 2008.

Scenes from Orientation 2009

Top: The Surgical Society flexes its muscles to attract membership. Bottom: The Ballroom and Latin Society uses their not-inconsiderable feminine wiles to attract members.

Students selling SAX Appeal 2009.

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Two HIV vaccines developed by UCT's Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IIDMM) have begun clinical testing at Crossroads in Cape Town, and in Soweto, Johannesburg.

The trial, called SAAVI 102/HVTN 073, is a milestone for South Africa. The country is one of the few developing nations, and the first in Africa, to have developed an HIV vaccine and put it forward for human clinical trials.

The vaccines are the culmination of eight years of research and development involving scientists across South Africa and globally.

Through joint funding from the South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI) and the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the trial is being conducted jointly with the HIV Vaccine Trials Network and NIAID, part of the US National Institutes of Health.

The vaccine designs are based on HIV subtype C, the dominant strain circulating in Southern Africa.

The US arm of the trial has 12 participants, while the South African arm plans to recruit 36 participants at its two sites.

"Reaching this important milestone of translating our discoveries in the laboratory to testing in humans would not have been possible without the support of a large team

SA-developed HIV vaccines go into testing phase

of people from UCT, together with national and international collaborations," says Professor Anna-Lise Williamson, leader of the vaccine development team and joint staff member of the IIDMM and the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS).

"An effective vaccine against HIV/AIDS remains a top global health priority, and it is our hope that the evaluation of these vaccines in clinical trial will provide some important answers that will bring us closer to this goal."

Launched in 2005, the IIDMM is focused on infectious diseases, particularly those that threaten sub-Saharan Africa, such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

UCT's 13-year-old mission statement is under review following a Council decision to align it with the international, national and higher education contexts, which have undergone significant change since the mission was first developed.

The Mission Review Task Team is chaired by Professor Francis Petersen, dean of the Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment. The framework to develop the new mission was presented to all faculty boards, the PASS Forum, the Institutional Forum, the Students' Representative Council and various unions.

Two revised statements have now been drafted and are up for discussion. These are based on broad details captured under four discussion points that were developed after multiple discussions were held across the campus; namely UCT's research-led identity, its graduates, its role in society, and its values.

The current mission statement was drawn up by a working group of the University Transformation Forum in the mid-1990s, and was affirmed and adopted at a special University Assembly on 24 April 1996. The statement speaks of UCT's ambitions to be an outstanding teaching and research university, to educate for life and to address the challenges facing South African society.

In a recent statement, Price noted that UCT needs a "crisper, more forward-looking mission to distinguish us from our competitors".

"We are now at a stage where the broader discussions and reflections are being distilled, and we wish to end with a mission statement that is, ideally, no longer than a paragraph or two," said Price. "This is not an easy process." Mission statement draft example 1

Our mission is to be a world-class university, driven and informed by a search for new knowledge, with a commitment to

excellence in teaching and learning, research and social responsiveness and underpinned with a value system characterised by a social conscience and contributing to the challenges facing society through an African context.

In pursuit of its mission, the University of Cape Town will provide an environment to students and staff for intellectual debate, international exposure and a solid educational experience, thus developing graduates with critical comparative thinking and global skills. Mission statement draft example 2

To be a leading university internationally and in Africa, which offers excellent teaching and learning through pursuing critical and relevant research and by making meaningful contributions to society.

We seek to provide a safe and nurturing environment in which staff and students are free to think critically, develop their full potential and create and lead better societies.

- Monday Paper

UCT mission statement review

Professor Janet Seggie of UCT's Department of Medicine is the first woman to be elected as the Arthur Landau Lecturer by the Fellows and Councillors of the College of Physicians of South Africa.

This is the highest honour that specialist physicians can bestow on a colleague in South Africa.

Prof Seggie will be required to deliver a lecture at all the medical schools in the country over the next six months. Her lecture, titled Educating Doctors for Africa: a captivating "alchemy", will focus on South Africa's recent MBChB curriculum renewal processes.

"It's a special honour to receive this prestigious award from my peers," said Prof. Seggie. "Arthur Landau was a very special physician and teacher, who took an interest in all of us as we undertook our specialist training as registrars at Groote Schuur Hospital."

The annual travelling lectureship is awarded in honour of Dr Landau, a former president of the College.

The Faculty of Health Sciences is justifiably proud of Prof Seggie’s achievement and we look forward to hearing of her successes as she presents her lecture around the country.

- Chris McEvoy

College of Physicians’ honour for Prof Seggie

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A symbiotic relationship between SHAWCO (the Students' Health and Welfare Centres Organisation) and the health sciences faculty is providing clinical-skills training for scores of medical students. Through a combina-tion of strengths and resources, this partnership ensures invaluable training for future doctors, and essential ser-vices to those in the heart of poor communities.

Nestled within the bustling CBD off Bonga Drive, Khayelitsha, the Site B Community Health Centre provides essential health care to thousands of residents on the Cape Flats. It is within the walls of this hospital that UCT's medical students get their first real exposure to community clinics.

Under the hands-on guidance of Dr Biddy Buchanan-Lee and her two assistants, Ezzy Zozi and Khanyisa Ntwana, fourth-year students manage patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, make casts in the plaster of paris room, learn the process behind X-rays, assist in HIV clinics and provide support in the Trauma Centre.

'Serve and Learn' is Buchanan-Lee's motto, invented "oh, some years ago". With a BSc from UCT (she did her medical training at Cambridge and Newcastle University), she's worked in Khayelitsha for 12 years - and she's a "big fan" of community service. Although Khayelitsha falls under Tygerberg's jurisdiction technically, Bu-chanan-Lee has remained committed to hosting a UCT learning platform in Site B as she believes that this is the coalface: where real service and real learning can take place.

"It's essential to train them [the students] in the sort of environment they have to work in," she says.

Students are taught to look for what they can change to help patients, to ensure that each patient they see leaves the clinic with their condition fully investigated, with knowledge about their medical condition and a future plan of management.

Students also learn to manage with limited resources.

"You have to think laterally out here, every day," says Buchanan-Lee.

Such is her belief in this experience that, when her teaching space came under threat in 2008, instead of just packing it all up, she dug in her heels, took her own advice, and got crea-tive ...

Health care on the move On Wednesday nights, just a few roads

down in Town 2 Khayelitsha, a massive truck with a red cross makes its way to the Zibonele Clinic. This is one of SHAWCO's mobile clinics, which has been serving the people of Khayelit-sha since it had an active watch-tower and a

small population of 10 000. For 66 years now, SHAWCO Health students from UCT have provided essential clinical services to various disadvantaged communities across the Cape Metropole. Zibonele is just one of the six weekly evening clinics currently run by SHAWCO Health students, with an additional monthly paediatric clinic on Saturday mornings. In 2008, around 500 students treated over 4 200 patients in the Cape communities. The clinics are run after hours: the students work in the hospitals during the daytime.

"We have been very fortunate to have received generous sponsorship from GrandWest CSI," says Thandi de Wit, SHAWCO Health's President for 2009. "They funded the building of a new state-of-the-art clinic, as well as the re-furbishment of our two longest-surviving trucks. While we certainly make good use of them after hours, it seemed a waste for them to be standing empty and unused for long periods during the day. So, when UCT approached us with a request to help solve a space problem, we were only too happy to help in any way we could."

And so began a new partnership between SHAWCO and UCT.

Big Mama is a boon The solution to Buchanan-Lee's space prob-

lem was "Big Mama" - SHAWCO's newest (and biggest) clinic. The hospital management has been most accommodating and supportive - allowing her to occupy a large area within the hospital parking area. With four separate con-sultation rooms, Big Mama has been a boon to

the CHC. It's a win-win-win situation in which SHAWCO's big mobile clinics, used by their volunteers to provide medical services by night, double up as sites for the assessment and man-agement of patients with chronic diseases by day.

Now, not only is there no space crisis, but Buchanan-Lee has been able to make rooms available to Dr Shaheed Mathee, who uses the space to run an HIV clinic and, in the process, provide further training for the students.

Big Mama's older, yet smaller 'brother' has since been deployed to provide much-needed teaching space for the sixth-year Family Medi-cine programme at Hanover Park CHC, while the third mobile, having been used by Dr Sha-hieda Adams for research into TB in Delft, will soon find a new parking place outside Mitchell's Plain CHC - also for the sixth-year Family Medicine Programme.

"We are thrilled with this arrangement," says De Wit. "SHAWCO Health has always been about improving the health of our commu-nities in any way we can. We are excited about what meaningful partnerships such as this one can do for our communities."

Buchanan-Lee adds: "We in Khayelitsha share a vision with SHAWCO. We both care deeply about the community... If it were not for the generosity of SHAWCO we would have difficulty in remaining in Khayelitsha and pro-viding this service, and our students would not have the experience of working in circum-stances close to what awaits them when they do their community service."

Below: Members of the SHAWCO and health sciences teams include (front, from left) students Nieleshen Govender, Leah Naidoo and Raphaella Stander. (Back, from left) Manager of HIV unit, Dr Shaheed Mathee, Mrs Notshe, Dr Biddy Buchanan-Lee, Frank Molteno, interpreters Ezzy Zozi and Khanyisa Ntwana, and SHAWCO Health Mentor Wendy Lewin.

Taking health to the community

(From left) Interpreter Ezzy Zozi, health sciences student Raphaella Stander, senior lecturer Dr Biddy Buchanan-Lee, and interpreter Khanyisa Ntwana at work in the SHAWCO mobile clinic being used for clinical skills training in Khayelitsha Site B.

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FEATURES

Congratulations to Andrea Rother for winning the second prize in a prestigious Women in Science Competition for African researchers, which was organised by a consortium of science and development agencies, including CTA, ATPS, AGRA, FARA, NEPAD and RUFORUM.

The competition sought to identify, recognise and reward the hard work and excellence of young professionals and women scientists who are engaged in innovative and pioneering research and communicating the outputs (knowledge, technologies, approaches) to improve agricultural productivity and the livelihoods of rural communities.

Andrea’s paper, dealing with "Pesticide Risk Reduction Strategies for Vulnerable African Populations through Regulatory Capacity Building and Gender Appropriate Risk

Women in Science honours Communication Strategies," was shortlisted out of 258 abstracts received. The 10 finalists

in the Women in Science section were invited to present their papers at the finalists’ event in Addis Ababa last week. Following her presentation, she was awarded second prize - in a very competitive process. The awards were made at the AU meeting of Agricultural ministers on Friday and were handed over by Ms Njabulo Nduli, director general of Agriculture for South Africa. This is a great honour and a fantastic achievement. It reflects lots of hard work on Andrea's part in building links in Africa and should encourage us all to keep pursing social responsiveness, particularly in engaging with African issues, in our work.

Well done, Andrea! - Leslie London

Andrea Rother at the competition finals, which

were held in Ethiopia.

IIDMM earns top marks in international review From 2 to 4 November 2008, the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, the largest research institute at UCT, which has been in operation for the past five years, underwent a major scientific review by the International Scientific Advisory Committee (ISAC), chaired by Professor Valerie Mizrahi, Director of the MRC/NHLS/WITS Molecular Mycobacteriology Research Unit.

The ISAC noted that: • the IIDMM has shown considerable

growth and development during the period under review;

• the research conducted at the IIDMM is internationally competitive;

• the publication record of the institute is very impressive and has shown steady growth since 2003;

• this record is particularly noteworthy when bench-marked against the FHS, UCT as a whole and comparable institutions in South Africa.

• ISAC also noted that members of the unit have been successful in securing highly competitive international grant funding both for clinical and laboratory research and that the research is cutting-edge in a number of areas.

The IIDMM was complimented on the emergence of considerable strengths at the laboratory/clinical/community interface, which has positioned the IIDMM as a leading site globally for TB-HIV research, the bridging across the Faculties of Science and Health Sciences, as

evidenced by research in HIV/HPV vaccinology and the Drug Discovery Signature Theme, and the extensive collaborative research networks that have been established at national, regional and international levels.

Significant challenges identified included attracting, retaining and rewarding staff, accessing long-term funding for resources, equipment and staff, increasing funding support from the University and ensuring that strategic research areas like bioinformatics and structural biology are

not neglected. The ISAC also suggested that changes be made to the management structure and membership criteria.

“The IIDMM intends to sustain an environment of high calibre research and productivity that will attract international researchers and secure a future for Africa’s promising new generation of scientists, from an integrated basic science, clinical and public health perspective,” concluded Prof Greg Hussey, Director of the IIDMM.

Ivan Toms memorial lecture

Deputy Minister of Health, Molefe Sefularo, was the guest speaker at the inaugural Ivan Toms Memorial Lecture, which was hosted by the Faculty of Health Sciences on Wednesday, 11 March.

Dr Sefularo explained that “Due to his (Toms’) pioneering work, the Western Cape, owing to the overwhelming influence of the Cape Metro, can boast of what is nearly the best public primary health care system in the country.” He went on to describe some de-fining incidents in both Ivan Toms’ life and how that impacted on the health care sector, both in the Western Cape and nationally.

In particular, Dr Sefularo supported a proposed documentary on the life of Toms, an activist, UCT graduate and, at the time of his death in March 2008, director of health at the City of Cape Town.

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Okreglicki first South African home in Marathon des Sables (MBChB 1983)

Below: 807 runners set out, carrying their food, clothing and gear, all but water and shelter, during the Marathon des Sables.

It is reputed to be the toughest footrace in the world, tough because of the terrain, the sand, the heat, and additionally gruelling because one has to be self-sufficient.

Despite this the marathon in the Saharan desert is oversubscribed, with waiting lists for the next three years.

In a bitingly cold wind, we set off on the Day 1 stage of 33km, and within 3km we were in the towering Saharan dunes. The night was cold and windy with no protection from the Berber tents.

Day 2, a 36km circular route, did not cross mountainous dunes, but even tougher terrain: vast stretches of rolling sand dunes and apparently flat plains of gravel that turned out to be like dry meringue with each foot crushing through the crust. This sand and soft running was enormously energy-sapping.

Day 3 and 4, the long stage to make up for the shortened event, was made the longest single stage in the history of the MdS, with a distance of 91km. A generous cut-off allowed the slower participants to stretch this stage into Day 4, which was a rest day for the faster competitors. This leg had much variation in terrain: dunes, plains, mud and hills, but also a strong, dehydrating headwind for 50km, with heat and dust-storms.

The next 40km was my favourite section: a climb up a gorge with magnificent vistas just

before sunset, and then dunes and the vast Saharan plains strewn with rocks, all made magical by moonlight, and a course marked by luminescent sticks. I had a good day, finishing in 13.5 hrs and improving my daily position to 77th.

The final stage, Day 5, was a classic standard marathon but with more hills, mountains and even a river crossing. From the last flat-topped mountain, the finishing line could be seen 4km away. The finish brought jubilation and the intense satisfaction of achievement.

This MdS is much more than just the run. It is a rite of passage, a test of one's preparation, mind and endurance, all with the magic and 'romance' of the Sahara.

The event was won, for the second time, by Moroccan Mohamad Ahansal, in 16hrs 27min.

For me this was a 'life's bookmarking' experience, fulfilling my goal plus achieving awareness for the Prevent Arrhythmic Cardiac Events organisation for which I ran.

Would I do it again? I would love to.

Above: Cardiologist Prof 'AO' Okreglicki, one of 770 runners who completed the five-day, 202-km Marathon des Sables in the Sahara desert.

Finding the genetic defect that causes colon cancer in two large South African families was enough to prompt Professor Raj Ramesar to consider terminating his sabbatical in Chicago in 1994.

"I knew how much the simple blood test that I subsequently designed would mean to those at risk."

Ramesar, of the Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, recently received the prestigious Alan Pifer Award, which recognises his breakthrough research on the disease and particularly how this work contributes to the welfare of South Africa's most disadvantaged communities in the Northern and Western Cape Provinces.

The award is named after the former president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Accepting the award, Ramesar said the honour belonged to the team of surgeons and nurses, now led by Professor Paul Goldberg of the Division of Gastroenterology, who had painstakingly furthered this pioneering work.

Singling out Sister Ursula Algar as an

example, Ramesar said: "She seamlessly steps between surgical nursing and field operations in genetics, tracing families and ensuring that those identified, through our laboratory, to be at high risk, have access to clinical

surveillance." He also dedicated the award to the families

and communities affected by colon cancer, particularly those the team has worked with in rural areas.

Raj Ramesar’s research in colon cancer wins Pifer Award

Vice-Chancellor, Dr Max Price with Prof Raj Ramesar and Prof Kit Vaughan (right) at the award ceremony.

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FEATURES

The Faculty remembers ... Dr Richard Lindsay—the “accidental doctor” Dr Richard (“Dick”) Lindsay, a general practitioner whose career path was determined by his experiences in the Western Desert of Egypt more than 65 years ago, has died in his adopted country of Australia. He was 88 years old.

Lindsay was born in Paris in 1920, the first child of an English accountant and a French seamstress. His family lived in London, Singapore and Bucharest before settling in Cape Town in 1929.

His father died a few months later after contracting blackwater fever in a mining camp in Zimbabwe, leaving his wife and four children stranded in Cape Town.

Lindsay matriculated from St Joseph’s College, Rondebosch, in 1936 and commenced work as a clerk with the Standard Bank. Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, he enlisted with the South African Medical Corps.

He was assigned to a field hygiene unit attached to the Natal Mounted Rifles, a Durban-based regiment that saw action against Italian and German forces in Kenya, Somaliland, Abyssinia, Libya and Egypt between 1940 and 1942.

Returning to South Africa in early 1943, Lindsay was posted as a medical orderly at the massive prisoner-of-war camp at Zonderwater outside Pretoria. With a population of more than 63,000 captured Italian and German soldiers, the facility was the largest single POW camp in any Allied territory.

During the relative peace and quiet, Lindsay successfully applied for a returned serviceman’s enrolment to the University of Cape Town. Upon viewing Lindsay’s second-class matriculation grades achieved seven years previously, the dean indicated that the

returned serviceman was extremely unlikely to complete first year and would be offered little assistance to do so.

Lindsay defied the odds and graduated as a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in June 1950. He gained work as an intern and

Graduate murdered at home Dr Francois Majoos may have been best known to his students as a respected lecturer, but in South African rugby circles, he was something of an expert in sports medicine, having served on the Medical Committee of SARFU and had been the team doctor for several national rugby squads.

He obtained his MBChB at UCT in 1973 and went on to qualify as a specialist physician with an interest in rheumatology in 1987. Dr Majoos, who had been

Loss for UCT and SA Rugby disgnosed with motor neurone disease, passed away in the early hours of Saturday, 2 May. The same day, the Vodacom Stormers paid tribute to him by observing a moment’s silence before the start of the game.

He will be sorely missed by his colleagues, undergraduate and post-graduate students, and, of course, by his patients. The Faculty extends its deepest sympathy to his wife, Edna, and sons, Emlyn and Dylan.

South Africa lost a talented young doctor on 17 March 2009, when MBChB class of 1998 graduate, Dr Edward Mathebula, was shot by robbers while watching television in his home in Honeydew, Johannesburg.

Dr Mathebula worked in the Department of Medicine at Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital, and Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital. He was studying at Wits University.

He had previously spent five years working as a physician in

the UK and was described as a hardworking practitioner with extensive medical knowledge that he applied in a professional manner.

Prof Jeffrey Wing of Johannesburg Hospital said: “It’s tragic to lose someone so committed and talented. He was so committed and an excellent doctor who set an example for his colleagues.” (Quoted in News24.com)

Dr Mathebula leaves two daughters, aged six and nine.

then registrar at Groote Schuur and Wynberg Hospitals in Cape Town, and Frere Hospital, East London. He continued northwards, being appointed assistant anaesthetist at Kimberley Hospital and resident anaesthetist at Johannesburg General Hospital before spending three years as resident doctor with a copper mine at Mufulira, Zambia. In June 1956, Lindsay decided to emigrate to Australia. He found work at Sale, Victoria, and then at the Daw Park Repatriation Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia. In 1958, he married Maureen Preece, a nurse at Calvary Hospital in Adelaide. The couple relocated to Sydney, New South Wales. After stints with a number of regional practices in Bulli, Macksville, and Narromine, he eventually settled in Coonabarabran in the state’s central west in 1963 . He served as a general practitioner, as well as providing surgery, anaesthetic and obstetric services at the local hospital, until his retirement in 1987. In his latter years, Lindsay indulged his life-long passion for restoring (read dismantling) classic Mercedes, Buick and Ford automobiles. He died peacefully at Coonabarabran District Hospital on 16 November, 2008, in the company of his wife of 50 years, six children and 18

grandchildren. Lindsay – who often described himself as

an “accidental doctor” – was forever grateful that South Africa gave him the gift of education. One of his final wishes was to pass on his regards to the surviving members of the UCT Class of 1950.

Dick Lindsay and his mother, Marie, on graduation day, 1950.

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A UCT colleague remembers the “Suburban Shaman”

Cecil often visited the Division of Family Medicine when in Cape Town. A family practitioner at heart, he took a keen interest in the development of family medicine at UCT, always willing to offer support and keen to explore opportunities for teaching and research at his Alma Mater. When we last met we discussed identifying opportunities to collaborate on HIV-related research and planned to explore this further. Sadly, this was not to be.

I attended one of Cecil's highly-rated courses on Cross Cultural Primary Care in London in 2002 where I and others had the benefit of the breadth and depth of his knowledge on culture, health and illness.

At the South African launch of his book Suburban Shaman in July 2004 at a well known bookstore in the southern suburbs Cecil was asked to read a few of his favourite passages. I was surprised at the degree of shyness he displayed in response to the attention and accolades. Although he studied and spent time with peoples of many different cultures, it seems he was nevertheless a private person. During his sabbatical in Cape Town in 2007, Cecil joined me during a morning session with final year family medicine students at a community clinic where he sat in on consultations. As expected, he offered many

interesting insights when we reflected together on the patient encounters for the morning - as well as a fair number of ideas for research.

Toward the end of his sabbatical he came to see me in my office and reflected on the profound impact being home for an extended period had had on him then even though he had been back many times over the years. While a very experienced anthropologist observer, he was being confronted with the challenge of observing his own responses to the many contradictions he encountered in the country of his birth in transition. I felt very privileged that Cecil felt free to share this with me. He planned to write about it; I don't know

whether he did. It seems now that this may have been soon after he was diagnosed with a terminal disease, adding to the intensity of the experience.

I will miss Cecil's visits, insights and passion for understanding the patient's context in order to understand the patient.

Thankfully the results of his research and reflections and their importance for health care teaching and practice are recorded in his books. The relevance of his work will stand the test of time.

- Dr Graham Bresick (MBChB, 1980) Respected HIV clinician dies The HIV community in South Africa is mourning the loss of Dr Steve Andrews (39).

A graduate of the MBChB class of 1993, he had been working in the field of HIV since 1995 and had been involved in the design and implementation of many HIV interventions in the public and private sectors.

Dr Andrews ran a part-time private practice in Brooklyn, Cape Town, and was a consultant to various public and private HIV programmes. He had also worked at the Médecins sans Frontières HIV Programme in Khayelitsha.

According to media reports, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) founder, Zachie Achmat, said that Dr Andrew’s death was tragic and untimely.

“Steve supported TAC against drug companies, fought with government and he was a great doctor and friend … He treated countless patients with HIV,” he added.

Aircraft crash claims life Members of the medical fraternity of Zimbabwe were shocked to hear of the death of well-respected neurologist, Dr Jens Mielke (47), when his light aircraft crashed on take-off from Harare Airport on 12 March 2009.

Born in Germany, he arrived in Zimbabwe at the age of 12, and became a permanent resident. He completed his MBChB at UCT, graduating in 1984. Upon his return to Zimbabwe, he became registrar in internal medicine at the Harare and Parirenyatwa hospitals.

He undertook specialist training in the UK, in internal medicine and neurology, and obtained the MRCP in 1992. Once again, he returned to Zimbabwe and lectured at the University of Zimbabe’s Medical School and was a specialist physician at Parirenyatwa Hospital. In 2000, he was appointed senior lecturer and in 2002, associate professor. He formalised his interest in bio-ethics with an MHSc in bio-ethics at the University of Toronto. He was elected FRCP (London) in 2007.

His interest in epilepsy went beyond that of the direct effect of the disease, and focused on knowledge and attitudes of teachers towards epilepsy in Zimbabwe and he worked tirelessly, often under trying circumstances, to improve the lives of people with neurological conditions.

He leaves a wife, Sheila, a daughter and two sons.

Harvard paed prof passes away Dr. I. David Todres (MBChB 1958) died of lymphoma on 26 September 2008 at his home in Newton, USA. He was 73.

During his career, spanning 37 years, Dr Todres received many invitations from former patients to attend milestones in their lives – from bar mitzvahs, to confirmations and marriages. Were it not for his dedication, those children may not have lived to celebrate these events with family and friends.

His commitment to the ethics and issues surrounding dying children resulted in his international recognition as an expert in paediatric ethics and had been chief of the Paediatric Bioethics Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) for Children since 1998. He was also a professor of

paediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Todres graduated from UCT and went to England to study anesthesia . In 1967, Dr. Todres spent four years at Montefiore Hospital (New York City), where he was director of paediatric anesthesia and director of the Pediatric Medical /Surgical Intensive Care Units. In 1971, he began his career at MGH, as co-director and later

director of MGH's Newborn Paediatric Intensive Care Units from 1971 to 1998.

Dr. Todres leaves his wife, Judith Sharlin, four children, Jonathan, Hillel, Rachelle and Nadia and a grandson.

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Beautiful music in the Clinical Skills Lab

The Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Max Price, joined the UCT jazz band and stole the show at the launch of the Clinical Skills Laboratory in Groote Schuur Hospital on Tuesday, June 5, 2009. A little known fact is that he is an accomplished saxophonist!

Guests made this discovery during the cocktail function after the formalities, when he picked up a saxophone belonging to medical student, Grant Thomas, who provided the entertainment, and joined in.

Dr Price was one of the key note speakers at this event and he spoke eloquently of the need for clinical skills training for students in the Faculty, particularly in the pre-clinical years, where access to patients was limited - for good reason. “We need skill laboratories and should have been doing this a long time ago,” Dr Price said.

Dr Saadiq Kariem, CEO of Groote Schuur Hospital and UCT Alumnus (MBChB 1992), was the other speaker for the evening and he explained that when he was approached by UCT to convert this space into a clinical skills laboratory, he

found it difficult to imagine, as the space had not been utilised for such a long time. He, however, expressed his delight that such an appropriate and important use could be found, and that the laboratory had found a home in the Old Main Building of Groote Schuur Hospital.

With Dr Price setting the tone by joining the band, the Dean of the Faculty could do nothing less than invite Prof Bongani Mayosi, Head of the Department of Medicine, onto an impromptu dance floor to accompany the strains of the VC’s saxophone playing ‘Autumn Leaves’.

In spite of the light heartedness of the event, it marks an important milestone in the ongoing development of the undergraduate curriculum in the Faculty of Health Sciences and lays a foundation for the implementation of similar facilities.

All of the speakers expressed their thanks to the project team who made the Clinical Skills Laboratory a reality. Their hard work and dedication will continue to pay off for many years to come.

- Lameez Mohd

Left: UCT Vice-Chancellor, Dr Max Price, jamming with the band. Below: The Dean, Prof Marian Jacobs, and the Head of the Department of Medicine, Prof Bongani Mayosi, take to the dance floor to the strains of “Autumn Leaves”.

The UCT/MRC Research Unit for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine (ESSM) and the Sports Science Institute of South Africa (SSISA) were officially inaugurated as a FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence at a function on 24 February.

The world football governing body selects institutions for accreditation based on clinical, educational and research expertise, practical involvement in the healthcare of teams and active commitment to preventing injuries. All centres must undergo a comprehensive application process based on exacting standards.

The centre is one of only two FIFA-accredited centres on the continent, and one of 10 across the world.

The inauguration ceremony was opened by Discovery Health Chair of ESSM Professor Tim Noakes, and attended by FIFA Chief medical officer Professor Jiri Dvorak, director of the centre Professor Martin Schwellnus, and SSISA managing director Morné du Plessis.

"FIFA is committed to improving standards of care in football worldwide, including injury prevention as a priority, complemented by accurate diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation," said Dvorak. "They also educate and train the next generation of practitioners and scientists committed to football medicine."

"The relationship between UCT, the ESSM/SSISA and its medical service providers is a unique model that combines education with current research, applied through medical service practitioners," said Du Plessis.

Schwellnus highlighted the unit's achievements in research, education and clinical service, and said that these core activities would form the basis of the centre's future work in football.

By creating a worldwide network of accredited medical centres, FIFA aims to ensure that players and teams on all continents have somewhere to go for expert care in football medicine.

The Centre for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg was the first FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence to be inaugurated in Africa.

- Monday Paper

Winning formula for Sports Science

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Professors inaugurated in 2009 The Faculty of Health Sciences hosted several inaugural lectures in 2009. The lectures celebrate the appointment of Professors in the Faculty.

FEBRUARY

MARCH

Professor Karen Barnes Title: “A quest without borders: Improving malaria treatment in policy and practice Karen Barnes completed her MBChB in 1988 and her specialisation as a Clinical Pharmacologist in 2004, both at the University of Cape Town (UCT). She was employed at UCT as a senior lecturer in 1995, and progressed via ad hominem promotions to associate professor in 2004 and full professor in 2008. Her research interests are mainly the comprehensive evaluation of malaria treatment policy changes in Southern Africa and improving antimalarial dosing regimens for vulnerable populations. Barnes’ work in malaria started when she was appointed as a member of the national Malaria Advisory Group. She subsequently joined the Regional Malaria Control Commission, the Worldwide Antimalarial Resistance Network, and a number of World Health Organisation committees that guide malaria treatment policy.

MAY

Professor Vanessa Burch Title: Health Care Today Prof Burch graduated with an MBChB degree cum laude from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1988 after which she specialised in Medicine and Rheumatology at the University of Cape Town. In 1997 Prof Burch completed an MMed degree and received the Phyllis Knocker-Bradlow Award of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa for ongoing contributions to medicine in South Africa. Since 2002 she has worked as a physician, teacher and researcher in Internal Medicine (as Head of the Department at GF Jooste Hospital) and Rheumatology. In 2004 she was awarded the Distinguished Teacher’s Award of the University of Cape Town. In March 2008, she was appointed Professor and Chair of Clinical Medicine at UCT and Groote Schuur Hospital. Currently Prof Burch is engaged in international collaborative studies that aim to evaluate the development of clinical reasoning skills in undergraduate medical students.

Professor Lucy Gilson Title: Providers, Patients and Power: Why Trusting Relationships Matter Within Health Systems Lucy Gilson has a background in development studies, health economics and health policy, and works in the field of health policy and systems research. She has a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (Oxon), an MA in Develop-ment Economics (East Anglia) and was awarded her PhD, entitled ‘Value for money?: The efficiency of primary care units in Tanzania’ by the University of London. Currently, Lucy holds the appointment of professor both at the University of Cape Town and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. She moved to UCT in 2007 from The University of the Witwatersrand, where she had been Deputy Director of the Centre for Health Policy for several years.

JUNE Professor Paul Potter Title: Allergy in South Africa Paul Potter graduated with a MBChB in 1974 from the University of Cape Town after which he specialised in Paediatrics, obtaining the Medal for the best student in the Fellowship examinations of the College of Medicine of South Africa in 1982 and obtained a BSc (Hons) Immunology degree in 1983. Following an 18-month postgraduate fellowship in molecular biology and allergy at the National Institutes of Health Bethesda, USA, he was awarded a doctorate in Medicine by the University of the Cape Town in 1991. Paul Potter is currently the Director of the Allergology, Diagnostic and Clinical Research Unit (ADCRU) of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Cape Town, and Head of the Allergology Clinics in the Department of Medicine at Groote Schuur Hospital. He is a past president of the Allergy Society of South Africa and Founding Editor of the South African Journal of Current Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

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JULY

JULY

Professor Jennifer Jelsma Title: The quality of life may be more important than life itself—but how do we quantify it? Jennifer Jelsma completed her BSc Physiotherapy degree at Stellenbosch University in 1971, her MPhil in 1998 at the University of Zimbabwe and her PhD at the Catholic University of Leuven in 2001. She lectured at the Universities of Stellenbosch and Zimbabwe, at which she was awarded the Distinguished Teachers Award in 1998. Since 2001, she has been a lecturer at UCT and progressed via ad hominem promotions to associate professor in 2005 and full professor in 2008. Her research interests are mainly in the area of quantifying the impact of disability on functioning and health-related quality of life. She is currently involved in the next round of burden of disease estimation with the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle. Her other main area of work is paediatric neurology and she has combined this with her interest in understanding function by examining the impact of such factors as disability, HIV and institutionalisation on the quality of life and functioning of children.

Professor Colin Cook Title: Vision 20/20—The right to sight Colin Cook was appointed to the Morris Mauerberger Chair of Opthalmology in January 2007. He completed his undergraduate MBChB training at the at the University of Cape Town in 1977 and his postgraduate ophthalmology training at UCT in 1987. From 1996 to 2004, he worked with an international NGO in Kwa-Zulu Natal—Christoffel Blindenmission (CBM). During this period, he served as CMB’s regional medical advisor, responsible for the oversight of blindness prevention programmes supported by the CBM in southern Africa and in 2005, he was appointed CBM’s global senior medical advisor. His general interest is in community eye health and his specific clinical and research interest is glaucoma as an important cause of blindness in Africa.

SEPTEMBER

Professor Colleen Adnams Title: Intellectual disability in South Africa: Quo Vadis? Colleen Adnams completed a BSc. degree at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Pietermaritzburg, and BSc Hons. Medical Biochemistry, MBChB and specialist qualification in Paediatrics, F.C.Paed (SA), at the University of Cape Town. After gaining post specialisation experience in Community Child Health and Developmental Paediatrics, she joined the UCT School of Child and Adolescent Health and Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital as Head of the Child Developmental Service, a position she held from 1994 to 2007. In December 2007, she was promoted to the Vera Grover Chair and Professor of Intellectual Disability, Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health. This is the only chair of intellectual disability in Africa. Prof Adnams heads the Department’s Division of Intellectual Disability and is lead clinician of Intellectual Disability Services for the Western Cape Associated Psychiatry Hospitals. In this emerging health field, she has initiated the MPhil in Intellectual Disability Mental Health, to commence at UCT in 2010.

German delegation learns about TB vaccines at SATVI Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Prof Crain Soudien was on hand to welcome a delegation from Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Germany, consisting of politicians and businessmen. The visit was hosted by the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI) and took place in the IIDMM. The visit was led by the Niedersachsen Minister of Economics, Labour and Transport, Jorg Bode and was part of a broader visit to strengthen ties and explore areas of potential collaboration in South Africa. The vital contribution of private sector investment in research at the University of Cape Town was highlighted and the programme included presentations by SATVI co-director, Dr Hassan Mahomed and Prof Frank Brombacher, head of the Immunology Unit.

Tom Scriba, Senior Laboratory Researcher at SATVI gives an overview of the extensive work undertaken by SATVI in the area of vaccine development.

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FacultyNEWS

During February 2009, a report was released by Physicians for Human Rights, an international health NGO, presenting hard evidence of the devastating situation in Zimbabwe and confirming the complete collapse of the healthcare system in that country.

UCT, and particularly the Health Sciences Faculty heeded the call for action and have initiated a number of responses to Zimbabwe’s plight, starting with an editorial sent to Cape Town newspapers, cosigned by the Vice-Chancellor and the Dean, to collecting non-perishable food to be sent to Zimbabwe with the Gift of the Givers organisation, and hosting a meeting of the Committee of Medical Deans of Health Sciences faculties across the country.

The Committee released a statement expressing their grave concerns over the impact of the Zimbabwean crisis on academic health sciences, calling on the global community to “support all efforts to secure the training platform for health sciences in Zimbabwe”. In addition, as an emergency response, the Committee of Medical Deans requested that medical schools in South Africa and the Southern African region accommodate affected medical students in their final year of study. This call was made in the face of serious resource constraints faced by institutions in the region, and the Committee undertook to support efforts to procure financial and organisational resources for this purpose.

The Faculty also had a visit from Prof Midion Chidzonga, the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Zimbabwe, who was able to give insight

into the current situation, both in the Faculty of Health Sciences and in the country.

“It’s depressing,” he said. “That’s the best way to describe it. All of our clinical teaching activities have shut down. It’s impossible to continue teaching – the costs for transporting staff and students are too high.”

Prof Chidzonga estimated that under ideal conditions, it will take six months to a year for

the situation to the normalise in higher education, but he is quick to emphasise that everything is dependent on circumstances in the country. But despite all of the challenges, he remains optimistic about Zimbabwe.

“If you are the dean, you are supposed to lead and you leave, how can there be change?” He asked.

His message to the Faculty took the form of a plea for assistance. “If UCT can admit as many students as possible to complete their studies, and facilitating staff exchanges, it would be wonderful.”

Editor’s Note: Since this article was written, the University of Zimbabwe has reopened its Faculty of Health Sciences and it would seem that the situation is beginning to normalise.

Call to aid med students in Zim

The Rural Support Network (RSN) held a raffle to purchase stationery for rural high school learners, toys for rural paediatric wards in the Eastern Cape and additional beds for hospitals in the Eastern Cape. Members of RSN drew the winning tickets on 30 April 2009 and took time to pose for a photo with Faculty Academic Administration Manager Brenda Klingenberg, : Itumeleng Ntatamala, Mlekeleli Gambu, Brenda Klingenberg, Lwando Mpotulo, and Pauline Nkondo.

RSN raises money for charity ... 90th anniversary celebrations of the UCT Department of

Medicine The Department of Medicine will be 90 years old in 2010. The occasion will be marked by means of a 90th Anniversary

Forum, a 90th Anniversary Dinner in Jameson Hall, and the launch of a new Fund for the Future of the Department

of Medicine.

A three-day Physicians Conference will follow at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from Friday 19 to

Sunday 21 February 2010.

Further information & enquiries:

Belinda Chapman, UCT Conference Management Centre.

[email protected] Tel: +27 (0) 21 406 6407

Above: the Committee of Medical Deans. Left: Prof Gonda Perez and Gawa Sayed of Gift of the Givers. The Faculty collected food to be sent with aid missions to Zimbabwe.

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Two new deputy deans take up the reins

The Dean Team recently welcomed Prof Gregory Hussey and Prof Sue Kidson to their new roles as part-time deputy deans in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Prof Hussey has the challenging portfolio of Research and Prof Kidson, equally so, that of Postgraduate Affairs.

Both of the new deputy deans will continue to work in their respective areas, and will contribute to the Dean’s Team on a part-time basis. Prof Hussey will continue in his role of Director of the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IIDMM). Prof Kidson will continue her work in the Department of Human Biology.

Med 10-ers come up with the goods

This year’s Medical 10 fun run/walk will take place on Sunday, 6th December at the West-ern Province Cricket Club Sports Complex off Keurboom Road, Newlands. It is a 10km run around Rondebosch Common and Keurboom Park and this year there will, for the first time, be a designated category for walkers. It is one of the few handicap events staged in the Cape, with half a minute extra allowed for each year of age over 40. Entry forms will be available in October from Life Healthcare hospitals in the Western Cape - Kingsbury, Claremont,Vincent Palotti, and West Coast - or at www.lifehealthcare.co.za. Enquiries to Mathilda Mallinson 021 402 1502 or [email protected]

Sydney Cullis (MBChB 1967) handing over a cheque for R44 000 from the 2008 Medical 10 to Victoria Hospital staffers, Clint Cupido (MBChB1999) and Peter Raubenheimer.

Hoffenberg honoured at launch The recognition of a struggle stalwart who has long been associated with the University of Cape Town took centre stage at the launch of the Sub-Saharan African Centre for Chronic Disease Control, which was held in the Groote Schuur Old Main Building on Wednesday, 4 November 2009.

The launch of the Centre coincided with the naming of the Bill Hoffenberg Conference Room, which was the venue for the launch. Prof Bongani Mayosi, Head of the Department of Medicine and one of the founders of the Centre, welcomed guests to the opening and went on to welcome Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the current Minister of Home Affairs, former minister of Health and Foreign Affairs, who spoke warmly of her personal experience of Sir Raymond “Bill” Hoffenberg, as a medical student in exile in Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

“I had the privilege of being in his ward every day. He was a very kind professor and was an excellent clinician and excellent teacher,” she said.

Bill Hoffenberg, a graduate of the University of Cape Town, who had also served on the academic staff of the Faculty, was described as an

endocrinologist of international repute, who was forced to leave South Africa in 1968 as he had received a banning order issued by the apartheid government. He went on to an illustrious professional career in the United Kingdom, which included being appointed president of the Royal College of Clinicians, and culminated in a knighthood in 1984. He died in April 2007 and in 2008 was posthumously awarded the Order of the Baobab in Silver by then-president Thabo Mbeki.

Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma unveiled a photograph of Bill Hoffenberg during the

evening’s proceedings that has pride of place in the conference room .

Prof Dinky Levitt explained the events leading to the establishment of the Centre for Chronic Diseases. The mission of the Centre is to “bring together experts in public health, clinical medicine, epidemiology, lifestyle modification, economics, health behaviour, implementation research and health service management. ”

Prof Craig Househam, the Head of the Department of Health in the Western Cape, also paid tribute to Bill Hoffenberg and explained that:

“There is little doubt that the burden of disease from non-communicable [illnesses] on the African continent and in South Africa in particular, has shown and has continued to demonstrate the potential for a sustained rise. On this basis, a significant investment in the healthcare system and in particular the primary healthcare system is justified. \

He concluded by saying: “It is clear the work envisaged by the Sub-Saharan African Centre for Chronic Disease Control will be of great importance to the Western Cape Province, Southern Africa and the broader continent.”

Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, reflects on the life and work of Bill Hoffenberg, who was a mentor to her as a young medical student in exile in the United Kingdom.

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Zimbabwe and Gaza in the spotlight In commemoration of Human Rights Day, which also marks the 40th anniversary of the Sharpville Massacre (21 March 1969), the Faculty of Health Sciences hosted two local consultants to Physicians for Human Rights, one of them a member of the Faculty.

Prof David Sanders, the Director of the School of Family Health and Public Medicine at the University of the Western Cape and Prof Sebastian van As, the Head of the Trauma Unit at the School of Child and Adolescent Health in the Faculty reported back on their experiences in Zimbabwe and Gaza recently, as members of Physicians for Human Rights task teams sent to the respective countries to assess the current situation.

Prof Sanders spoke first, and spoke eloquently of the suffering of the people of Zimbabwe following the complete breakdown of the health system in Zimbabwe.

One of the most telling signs of the appalling conditions in Zimbabwe was the treatment of the team sent in to undertake the assessment. They were described in Zimbabwean media as : “Four bogus physicians … on a spying mission … exposed! They breached their mission and held

meetings with … opposition political leaders … on issues pertaining to security in Zimbabwe.”

Their report was released in December 2008, and offered damning evidence of gross human rights abuses.

Problems highlighted included the complete breakdown of the public health system—from a critical shortage of manpower, drugs, and consumables, to a lack of water and electricity, resulting in a limited number of Zimbabweans with access to private healthcare as a result of having to pay for treatment in US dollars, because professionals in private practice would not accept payment in Zimbabwean dollars.

Prof Sebastian van As was

asked to join a team of five experts early in 2009 to investigate the medical human rights situation for Palestinians in Gaza following the most recent armed conflict in that region. Among their tasks was to assess the general medical situation, investigate attacks on medical institutions and ambulances, denial of medical care of the injured, and the use of illegal weapons, particularly against civilians. What they found was horrifying. Patients were not being allowed out of Gaza for medical treatment and without this treatment, several patients died. Ambulance drivers were regularly under fire and weapons such as phosphorus and flechette bombs

had been utilized during the conflict, resulting in horrific injuries. Many of the weapons used were designated “anti-personnel”, which resulted in many soft tissue injuries and amputations, and many of the people affected were civilians. The team reported similar problems with nutrition and access to basic facilities such as electricity and clean water. Prof van As explained that many injuries, specifically those of children, were “indirect victims”, such as the little girl who was badly burned when she ran to find her mother during a helicopter attacks and knocked over a paraffin stove in the dark.

The Gaza report was released on Monday, 6 April 2009.

Prof David Sanders, (left) of the University of the Western Cape and Prof Sebastian van As (below),

Table Mountain ablaze The photo on the left was taken from one of the level 6 windows of Falmouth Building on 18 March, as helicopters battled the blaze on the slopes of Devil’s Peak. The fire broke out on Tuesday, 17 March, above Rhodes Memorial and took almost two days to bring under control. Two homeless people died as a result of the blaze. Approximately 500 hectares of park land were burned in the fire. The photo below (taken by Melanie Jackson) shows a rescue helicopter

making its way to the top of Devil’s Peak with its load of water. The helicopters refilled their “buckets” from the reservoir on the Upper Campus of UCT. According to news reports, there were no other injuries, although the wildebeest in the park were very alarmed by the helicopters, if not the fire! Members of the Faculty took food to the Roeland St Fire Station in appreciation of their sterling efforts.

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Congratulations are in order as Prof Kit Vaughan has been re-awarded an A-rating by the National Research Foundation.

Prof Vaughan received a letter from the Foundation on 27 January, confirming that he has been placed in the A category at level A2, and that the rating is valid until the end of 2014.

The A category is defined by the Foundation as: “Researchers who are unequivocally recognized by their peers as leading international scholars in their field for the high quality and impact of their recent research outputs.”

Professor Gary Maartens (MBChB 1980) of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology has been elected president of the newly formed College of Clinical Pharmacologists.

Also on the council is his colleague, Associate Professor Marc Blockman.

Maartens said UCT had been instrumental in getting clinical pharmacology accepted as a speciality by both the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa (CMSA) and the Health Professions Council of South Africa.

The process took three years, as they sought consensus from the pharmacology departments at South Africa's medical schools.

"Our goal is to promote the discipline nationally," said Maartens, "but the immediate goal is to set up the exams in order to register specialists in the field."

He believes the development is a crucial step in the development of the discipline.

"Clinical pharmacology is recognised as a discipline requiring expansion in the national modernisation of tertiary services processes.

"At UCT we've been training clinical pharmacologists for over 10 years. Getting the discipline accepted as a speciality makes it easier for academic hospitals and provinces to create specialist posts."

The CMSA is the national body that sets up and runs exams for trainees specialising in medicine.

Prof Gary Maartens of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology in the Department of Medicine is president of the new College of Clinical Pharmacologists.

Prof Maartens is first president of College of Clinical Pharmacologists

A+ for Prof Kit

Vaughan

Professor Eric Bateman's "significant" contribution to asthma management has earned him an A2-rating from the National Research Foundation.

Professor of Respiratory Medicine at UCT and chairperson of the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA), Bateman has played a leading role in changing the objectives of asthma treatment, which were not clearly defined, and definitions that were not patient-friendly. This was while he was chairing GINA's Science Committee and serving as an executive committee member of the Global Alliance Against Chronic Respiratory Diseases, a World Health Organisation Alliance.

He has published ground-breaking papers encouraging the concept of asthma control and has demonstrated that this could be achieved in most patients. This resulted in major revisions of both national and global guidelines.

Bateman, the founder of the UCT Lung Institute and head of the Division of Pulmonology in the Department of Medicine, was delighted about this first rating.

"Achieving a scientific rating is difficult for a practising clinician," he explained.

"I have spent most of my working career

Eric Bateman earns an A rating

running a large clinical service with all the clinical and teaching responsibilities, including a considerable component of after-hours work."

Bateman said the rating also recognises the efforts of his department and colleagues, and believes that South Africa remains a country of opportunity for innovative research.

Prof Eric Bateman. Prof Kit Vaughan.

Final-year MBChB students at UCT have raised R12 000 for a charity that looks after HIV-positive and other children in need.

A cheque was handed to Thembacare on 2 December. The charity has two main establishments in the Western Cape, one in Bridgetown, Athlone, and the other in Grabouw. The donation will be used to buy cots for the paediatric unit they are currently renovating.

The Development and Alumni Department hosted a music concert and tea for senior alumni at the Baxter Theatre on 29 April.

Vice-Chancellor Dr Max Price an-nounced that this was the first of many events aimed at UCT's senior alumni.

Students raise R12 000

Senior alum concert

SNIPPETS

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More PhDs for the Faculty of Health Sciences ...

The Faculty of Health Sciences rounded off a good year with another impressive crop of PhD’s at the December graduation ceremony.

It's not often a lecturer finds himself in the same class as some of his students. As a fellow student, that is.

Associate Professor Landon Myer, an epidemiologist in the School of Public Health & Family Medicine, was among scores of MBChB students who graduated last week.

At 34 he's about 10 years older than the class average. But age and experience have given him an interesting vantage point, he says, the students' enthusiasm reminding him how easy it is to become "closed-minded" and jaded as a researcher and academic.

"It was fun and I developed some close friendships," he said.

While coping with the demands of medical studies, Myer worked as a part-time teacher and researcher in the school.

His research there focuses on the roles of infectious diseases (including HIV/AIDS, TB and sexually transmitted infections) in shaping individual and population health in southern Africa.

"I'm particularly interested in how the HIV epidemic influences other areas of population health, including women's reproductive health and mental health."

In investigating these topics, Myer's

research incorporates biological mechanisms, individual behaviours and exposures, as well as structural socioeconomic and health service conditions.

With his work grounded in the 'macro'

elements of public health, the MBChB shifted his focus back to the health of the individual. It's an important balance, he says.

Myer also teaches in the Master's in Public Health programme on epidemiological methods, infectious diseases epidemiology and social epidemiology. Within the programme he convenes courses on advanced epidemiology and clinical research.

He's enjoyed a somewhat convoluted academic path. A South African-American (he was raised in the States), his first interest was in botany (his office in the Falmouth Building is shared with numerous potted plants). In the mid 1990s he completed an MA in social anthropology at UCT and then became interested in the social aspects of HIV.

He went to work at the Medical Research Council in KwaZulu-Natal and from there he left for the States, where he completed his PhD in epidemiology at Columbia.

With a brand new medical qualification to add to his credentials, Myer pays tribute to the faculty and school's flexibility in making possible his dual academic life, particularly stalwarts like Rodney Ehrlich, Leslie London and Jonny Myers, for their support.

"It couldn't happen anywhere else."

Landon Myer—a master bridging the gap between master and student

Landon Myer.

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Reunions 2008

Above—Class of 1968: Lydia Pienaar, Anne Peters, Angela Peters, Leslie Berkowitz, Leo Leader, Stephen Comay, John McCutcheon (partly obscured) Muriel Comay and Margaret Hardman.

Left—the Class of 1958: (Left to right) Dudley Davidson, Tony Lekas, Ivan Kirk, Shirley Fisher, Nic Hofmeyr, Graham Fisher, Carol Kirk, John Terblanche and Angela du Preez.

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Left: Members of the Class of 1983 enjoy a light lunch in the MAC Club.

Below—Class of 1993: Dave Pienaar, Martin Forlee, Riaz Ismail, Riyana Ismail, Khairunisa Barday, Zunaid Barday, Carol Goedhals and Beth Walsh.

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Where are they now? The Cathartic keeps in touch with all Faculty of Health Sciences Alumni through this publication, the website and UCT News. This is an excellent way of finding out where old friends and colleagues are and what they might be doing. Please complete the form at the end of this section so that we can also keep track of your career and assist you to keep in touch with your alma mater.

1990’s Border, William (MBChB 1993) is a Paediatric Cardiologist from Atlanta, USA. He was elected to the Paediatric Council Board of the American Society of Echocardiography and is married with three children. William enjoys golf, running half marathons and playing the guitar. Chapman, Nick (MBChB 1993) is a partner in a General Practice at the North Curry Health Centre, from Somerset, England. He is married to Sue with three children and enjoys tennis, kayaking and photography as his hobbies. Davoren, Mark (MBChB 1991) is a Paediatrician from Scarborough, Queensland, Australia. He is currently in a long-term relationship and enjoys reading, theatre, movies and travel. Duke, Gavin is a partner in a diagnostic radiology private practice from Larchmont, USA. He is also Chief Resident (Radiology) at Cornell University Medical Centre in New York. Married to Deborah, they have two children. Ismail, Riaz (MBChB 1993) is the Medical Superintendent at 2 Military Hospital, in

Wynberg, Cape Town. He is married with two sons and enjoys photography, having won many photographic awards. Louw, Jonathan (MBChB 1993) is the CEO of Adcock Ingram Healthcare Limited in Johannesburg. He is also Vice President of the Pharmaceutical Industry Association of South Africa. Amongst his memorable moments Jonathan includes leaving South African in 1994 and changing careers and returning to South Africa in 1999. Machet, Paul (MBChB 1993) works at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide, Australia where he is a full-time general paediatrician. He is married to Minette (née Orwin), whom he met when he was a student, and has a young son. Paul loves watching rugby and pottering around the house and garden. Opie, Jessica (MBChB 1993) works in the field of Pathology at Groote Schuur Hospital and does diagnostic work such as bone marrow aspirates and all haematology laboratory tests. Married to Hugh Hacking, they have a son, Liam. Jessica is a founding member of KidsAID, a charity in Sydney, Australia, to raise funds for an AIDS orphanage in Gugulethu.

Potts, Jenny (MBChB 1993) is in a private, predominantly Rheumatology, practice at Greenacres Hospital in Port Elizabeth. She is married and has two daughters. Ramonate, None (MBChB 1994) is a gastroenterologist at the Universitas Private Hospital in Bloemfontein. He is married with two children and enjoys sport and gardening. Swart, Neil (MBChB 1993) is a general surgeon from Cape Town. He is married to Nicky with two children and counts amongst his memorable moments, his first sports car and Harley Davidson. Taitz, Jonathan (MBChB 1993) is a specialist paediatrician from Sidney, Australia. Married to Laura, he has two children and his hobbies include, cricket, rugby and running. Jonathan has completed twenty marathons including the Great Wall of China Marathon. Voges, Jurgen (BSc Phys 1993) is a rehabilitation physiotherapist currently developing a rehabilitation centre in Rustenberg. He is married to Reinhild with three children – Jochen, Anne and Sven. Jurgen counts the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 and Nelson Mandela’s

release in 1990 as a few of his memorable moments. Hobbies include horse riding, photography and woodwork. 1980’s Bester, Robert (MBChB 1984) is in family and travel medicine where he does pre and post travel assessments including vaccinations. From Invercargill, New Zealand, Robert is married to Dr Jane Chalmers who works in General Practice as well as hospice and terminal care. They have two children. Blakemore, Stephen (MBChB 1983) is an anaesthesiologist at the Port Shepstone Regional Hospital. Married to Janet, with 3 children, Stephen lives on the KwaZulu Natal South Cost in St Michaels-on-Sea. Burns, Andrew (MBChB 1989) is a general and infectious diseases Physician in a provincial New Zealand Hospital and lives in Hastings with his wife Robyn, three children, two horses, two large dogs and 4 700 apple trees! Hobbies include fly-fishing, surfing and horse riding. Candy, Sally (MBChB 1983) works in the Department of Radiology at Groote Schuur Hospital. She has two daughters and her hobbies include the Argentine Tango.

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Darby, Dominique (née Negus—MBChB 1983) stopped practicing medicine to care for her husband when he was diagnosed with a terminal illness. In 2008, following the death of her husband, she took over his engineering business in Coventry, UK. She has two children. She lost touch with the Alumni Office during this difficult time and was not able to attend her reunion. Classmates who would like to get in touch with Dominique can contact the Faculty Alumni Office. Eglin, Linda (MBChB 1983) is in a solo primary care practice in Los Gatos, California. She is unmarried and enjoys marathon running, backpacking, kayaking, cycling and everything outdoors. Giger, Russell (MBChB 1986) is a general practitioner from Plattekloof, Cape town. Married to Cindy (née Sutton), with three boys, he enjoys golf and cricket. Goldin, Jonathan (MBChB 1983) is Vice-Chairman in the Department of Radiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has three ‘Goldin’ girls in his life; his wife, Amy and daughters Sara and Hannah. Jonathan enjoys watching rugby. Green, Geoff (MBChB 1983) who specialises in stroke medicine and geriatrics lives in Remuera, Auckland, New Zealand with his wife Cathy Pikholz, (MBChB 1984). He is Clinical Head,

AT&R Unit at the Middlemore Hospital and has two children, Emma and Naomi. He enjoys swimming, diving, sailing and guitar. Hedden, David (MBChB 1984) from Winnipeg, Canada is assistant professor in Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Manitoba. Married to Patricia, with three children, he enjoys ice hockey, running and windsurfing. Jamieson, Claire (MBChB 1983) has retired from medical practice and is now fruit farming in Simondium, Western Cape. She is married to Rob Starke, a civil engineer, and has two daughters. She enjoys horses, gardening, poultry and travelling. Page, Anthony (MBChB 1983) is a sports physician from Christchurch, New Zealand. He was team doctor of the Crusaders Super 14 rugby team in 2006 and enjoys ultra marathon running, cycling and snowboarding. Tony won the Class Medal of the Australasian College of Sports Physicians in 2006 and is married with two children. Quested, Digby (MBChB 1983) is a consultant Psychiatrist and Honorary Senior Clinical lecturer at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. He is married to Louise, (a general practitioner), with three daughters. Digby plays the bass guitar in a Beatles Tribute band and enjoys singing and composition. Other hobbies include football and tennis.

Van der Westhuizen, Jeanne-Marie (MBCgB 1988) works in the Emergency Department of the public hospital in Sale, Victoria, Australia. She lives in Toowoomba and is married to Mark Painter (MBChB UCT 1979) with three daughters. Whitelock Jones, Linda (MBChB 1986) works as a General Surgeon in the Burns Unit of the Dora Nginza Hospital in Port Elizabeth. She is married to Guy Reid (MBChB 1992) and has two children aged 11 and 7. Linda won a landmark case in defence of patients’ rights in the Cape High Court in March 2008 (Dr Jones vs Dept of Health, Western Cape). Hobbies include bird watching, gardening and tennis. 1970’s Feigenbaum, Annette (MBChB 1978) is Associate Professor in Paediatrics and Biochemical Genetics at the Sickkids Hospital in Toronto, Canada. She is married to Norman Kort (BSc Eng (Elec) UCT 1973) and enjoys travel and reading. Painter, Mark (MBChB 1979) is a Paediatrician at the Toowoomba General Hospital in Australia. Married to Jeanne-Marie van der Westhuizen (MBChB UCT 1988), they have three daughters. They spent eight years in Canada, returned to South Africa for 9 years, before moving on to Australia in 2007. Mark received a Service Award from the Beacon Bay branch of Rotary in 2006.

Sarembock, Ian (MBChB 1975, MD 1988) spent 19 years at the University of Virginia as a Cardiologist and Scientist and is now in private cardiology practice as Associate Director of the Heart and Vascular Centre, The Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, USA. He is married to Ghita Cohen and has two children, Craig and Kerri. Ian enjoys reading, workout and watching sport. 1960’s Gersh, Bernard (MBChB 1965) is a Cardologist and Professor of Medicine as well Vice-Chairman, Academic Affairs, at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota, USA. He is married to Ann with 5 children and enjoys skiing, wildlife, hiking, fly-fishing, reading and travel. He has been an Honorary Professor of Medicine at UCT since 2007. Jeffery, Peter (MBChB 1968) is a retired Vascular Surgeon from Cape Town. Jeffrey was previously Head of Vascular Surgery at Groote Schuur Hospital. He is a past President of the Association of Surgeons of South Africa. Married to Marjorie, they have a son and daughter and one grandchild. Hobbies include golf and fly fishing. Kean, Mike (MBChB 1963) is a semi-retired obstetric anaesthetist from London where he lives with his wife, Carol. He was Medical Director , Obstetric Anaesthesia at the Portland Hospital from 1988-2004.They have four daughters and five grandchildren. He enjoys

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music, gardening, watching rugby and is a member of the London Wasps Rugby Football Club. Larsen, Jonathan (MBChB 1962) is a partly retired medical practitioner from Howick in Kwa-Zulu Natal where he lives with his wife of 44 years, Jacqueline. He is Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, has three children and is blessed to have seven grandchildren living nearby! Comay, Stephen (MBChB 1968) is a paediatrician from Toronto, Canada. Married to Muriel (née Goldblatt) who is a retired Special Education Teacher, he has five grandchildren and is the drummer in a 21 piece jazz band. Hardman, Margaret (MBChB 1968) works in the field of HIV / TB /Palliative care from White River in Mpumalanga. She has given presentations on HIV/AIDS at several national and international conferences and was instrumental in setting up an AIDS rural clinic which has been recognised as a best practice. Married to Harry Munnings, they have four children and six grandchildren. Lalkhen, Abdul Kader (MBChB 1968) is a General Practitioner in solo practice from Lansdowne in the Cape. He is married to Gelima, a retired radiographer, with three children. Lazarus, Colin (MBChB 1968) is in private paediatric practice and also works at the East

London Hospital complex. Married to Sheila (née Rea) they have two children. Their son, John, is a urologist in Cape Town and their daughter, Jean, is a landscape gardener in East London. They have three grandchildren. Colin is a keen cyclist having done road running for many years. Leader, Leo (MBChB 1968) is a Senior Lecturer in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of New South Wales and works at the Royal Hospital for Women in Sydney, Australia. Married to Shirley with two step- daughters, Leo has three children from a previous marriage. He obtained an MD from the University of New South Wales and enjoys running, cooking, music and opera. Pienaar, Lydia (MBChB 1968) is a general practitioner in a group practice from Strand in the Cape. She is widowed and has two children and two grandchildren. Hobbies include hiking, skiing and needlework. Ramages, Leslie (MBChB 1968) is an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist from Wynberg in the Cape. He is a councillor of the College of Otolaryngology, senator of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa and Treasurer of the ENT Society. Watson-Jones, Esther (MBChB 1968) is semi-retired, having managed the Anaesthetics Department of the North Tyneside Hospital in England. Her husband, Donald, is a structural

engineer and they have two sons and a daughter, as well as five grandchildren. Esther enjoys gardening and vegetable and fruit growing as well as travelling in Europe in their mobile home. She is a football season ticket holder. 1950’s Archer, Graham (MBChB 1955) is a retired general surgeon and anaesthetist from Bengeo, Hertford, England. He is married to his second wife, Barbara and they have six children between them. Two of his children studied at UCT – Christine (BA Geography 1991) and Paul BSc Elec Eng 1993). Graham writes that he is still very fit and enjoys cycling. Krikler, Dennis (MBChB 1951, MD) is a Cardiologist, and was Editor of the British Heart Journal from 1982-1991. Dennis has won many awards among which is the Paul Dudley White Medal for International achievement in Cardiology from the American Heart Association in 1984). He is married to Anne Winterstein, a former nurse at Groote Schuur and has two children, both educated in the UK. He is a collector of art, mainly Bloomsbury and 19-20th South African artists. Mai, François (MBChB 1956) is a psychiatrist from Ottawa, Canada. He is a retired full professor from the University of Ottawa and author of the book “Diagnosing Genius: The Life and Death of Beethoven”. Married to Sarie, (née Roelofse), they have four sons and nine

grandchildren. François has started a new side to his career – going on stage with American pianist, Justin Kolb, where he recounts anecdotes about Beethoven and Justin will perform relevant extracts of Beethoven’s music. Schapera, Herbert (MBChB 1958) is a retired family physician from Cincinnati, USA. Amongst Herb’s memorable moments, he has worked in all four dimensions of medicine – that of practice, teaching, research and organisation. Hobbies include travel, bridge, cooking and snow skiing and he is writing a book on dieting. Schochat, Gina (MBChB 1958) works in a family practice in Toronto, Canada. She has been married to Vivian Rakoff (Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry) since 1959 and has three children and four grandchildren. Hobbies include silver-smithing, cooking and reading. Segal, Alan (MBChB 1958) is a consultant anaesthetist from Tel Aviv, Israel having formerly worked at Stockton-to-Tees University Hospital in the United Kingdom. Married to Janice, he is a private pilot and enjoys swimming, gymnastics, travel and music. Vosloo, Lodewyk (Vossie) (MBChB 1958) is a retired general practitioner from George, having previously worked in Salisbury (Harare) from 1960-1963. Married to Annaleen, he has four children and eight grandchildren.

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Keeping in touch Use this section to tell us more about yourself and what you’ve been doing since you left UCT for inclusion in future publications. PLEASE USE BLOCK LETTERS.

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Please return the completed questionnaire to Joan Tuff: The Cathartic, UCT Faculty of Health Sciences, Alumni Office, Private Bag X3, Observatory, 7935 South Africa

Fax: +27 (0)21 447 8955 Email: [email protected]

This form is also available on the website at www. health.uct.ac.za/alumni and click on “Cathartic”