WITS A-rated scientists to focus on pneumococcal disease

Pneumococcal disease is a leading cause of illness in children and adults throughout the world. Globally, pneumococcal disease kills more children than HIV and TB combined. Pneumococcus - a common bacterium - can attack different parts of the body, causing a variety of illnesses.

To understand more about this 'shadow' disease and the global, groundbreaking research initiatives being undertaken by the University of the Witwatersrand, join leading National Research Foundation A-rated scientists, Professor Charles Feldman and Professor Shabir Madhi at the lecture where they will address the subject: Fighting the shadow - pneumococcus and respiratory disease in the 21st century.

To register for the event call N. Sibiya at +27 (0) 11 7172503 or email az.ca.stiw@ayibis.odnufmoN.

Professor Charles Feldman was born and brought up in Johannesburg, South Africa. He obtained his MB BCh degree at the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, in 1975 and served his internship at the Johannesburg Hospital. He subsequently completed his fellowship training in the department of Internal Medicine at Johannesburg Hospital and received his FCP (SA) in 1981. He received his PhD in 1991 for a thesis entitled Aspects of Community-acquired Pneumonia and his DSc in 2009 for a thesis entitled Contributions to an Understanding of Community-acquired Pneumonia. He was registered as a sub-specialist in Pulmonology in 1993 and was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP) in 1997.

In 1988/89 he was a Research Fellow and Honorary Senior Visiting Colleague, in the Host Defence Unit, Department of Thoracic Medicine, National Heart and Lung Institute, and Royal Brompton Hospital, London, United Kingdom. In May 1995 he was appointed as Professor of Pulmonology and Chief Physician, at Johannesburg Hospital (now known as the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital) and the University of the Witwatersrand, a position which he currently holds.

He is a member of a number of national and international societies, including the American Thoracic Society (ATS), the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), the European Respiratory Society and the British Thoracic Society. He is active in the ATS Conference Scientific Program Committee for the MTPI Assembly and is currently the South African representative on the European Respiratory Society. He has been President of the South African Thoracic Society on two previous occasions.

Professor Feldman's research interest is in the field of community-acquired pneumonia, and in particular pneumococcal pneumonia. In addition to being part of large international clinical collaborations recruiting cases of community-acquired pneumonia, he has also contributed to basic research studies, investigating the effects of various pneumococcal virulence factors on human ciliated epithelium as well as the effects of antibiotics on pneumococcal growth and expression of virulence factors. He has more than 300 publications in books, book chapters, and in both indexed and DE accredited peer reviewed journals.

Professor Shabir Madhi qualified as a paediatrician at Wits in 1996. He is currently a Professor of Vaccinology in the Wits Faculty of Health Sciences and is co-director of the Medical Research Council (MRC) - Respiratory and Meningeal Pathogens Research Unit. Professor Madhi also holds the Department of Science and Technology/National Research Foundation South African Research Initiative Chair in Vaccine Preventable Disease. In addition, he is president of the World Society of Paediatric Infectious Diseases and a founding-member of the Southern African Society of Paediatric Infectious Diseases.

Professor Madhi is an international leader in his field and as such has been awarded an A-rating by the National Research Foundation (NRF). Professor Madhi has been involved in research on vaccine preventable diseases for the past 13 years and has contributed to over 110 publications, including many in leading international peer-reviewed journals.

His research career has focused upon reducing morbidity and mortality from infectious diseases through vaccination. This research, of critical importance to South African children, has included studies on newly developed vaccines designed to prevent the two leading causes of death in children, namely pneumonia and diarrhoeal disease. The research is the first to demonstrate in Africa that childhood morbidity can be significantly reduced with pneumococcal-conjugate and rotavirus vaccines. These findings were published in the highest ranking medical journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine and Nature Medicine, and have helped inform WHO recommendations on the use of these vaccines in Africa and countries across the globe. The research has also contributed to South Africa being the first in Africa to introduce these vaccines into the public immunisation programme, which is anticipated to reduce childhood mortality in South Africa by 10-15%.

Professor Madhi has won several awards for his work. Recent recognition includes an NRF President's Award: Transformation of the Science Cohort, which was presented to him for his outstanding role in addressing the challenge of encouraging more women and black scientists to advance to world-class research performance.

Research in the Faculty of Health Sciences

The Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, has a proud record of research and achievement in all aspects of health sciences. In addition to the many hundreds of individuals who conduct research in the Faculty, 18 research entities (programmes/units/groups) are gathered under the umbrella of the Research Office and the Schools of the Faculty.

The research carried out by researchers in the Faculty varies from basic medical science to highly sophisticated molecular biosciences and from diseases of lifestyle to infectious diseases such as HIV/Aids, respiratory infections, diarrhoeal diseases, tuberculosis and malaria. In addition to medical sciences, our researchers conduct investigations into oral diseases, sports science, pharmaceutics, physiotherapy, palaeoanthropology and many other areas of the allied health sciences.

Go to http://web.wits.ac.za/Academic/Health/Research/ for more.