0000-0001-7367-7512 About
I believe that a clinicians duty must include careful observation, critical analysis and
dissemination of results for the improvement of services overall. Infant and maternal mortality
are two of the most devastating challenges facing South Africa due to the HIV epidemic and
every single averted death and prevented illness brings the country closer to reaching not only its
international commitments, but more importantly its promise of a better life to its population
many of whom remain extremely vulnerable. My work focusses around merging service delivery
in the field of pediatric/adolescent HIV and Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV
with operational research. During the period of high maternal HIV prevalence in Southern Africa
this is especially relevant as HIV has led to the reversal of the gains made in reducing infant,
child and maternal mortality over the last decades. Based at the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child
Hospital with the remarkable support of my senior colleagues (Profs. A Coovadia and G
Sherman) I have been able to pursue an academic career simultaneously. I have developed and
introduced data systems that enable the HIV clinical services to report their activities. These data
systems I have then engaged in my operational research, which has involved introducing
peripartum HIV testing for mothers and their infants in the Maternity Ward (basis of my own
MSc [Med], PhD) and involved work on improving follow-up of HIV positive mothers and their
exposed infants. I have been able to use this resource for supervising masters (MMed) students in
the Department of Pediatrics. As the principal investigator for the site Rahima Moosa Mother
and Child Hospital, I assist with contribution to the International epidemiological Databases for
the Evaluation of AIDS (IeDEA-Southern African region). I have played a Principal Investigator
role on the “Latency and Early neOnatal Provision of Anti-Retroviral Drugs (LEOPARD) –
Observational and Clinical Trial” and helped coordinate the “Finding Infants with HIV Disease:
Evaluation of Resistance, PMTCT Failures and Linking Access to Care (The FInHDER Study)”.
My current foci of attention are Point-of-Care infant HIV diagnostics as well as mental health in
adolescents with HIV.
Employment
Employment history is unavailable.
Education
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University of the Witwatersrand PhD (Paediatrics)2013 - 2018
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University of the Witwatersrand Masters of Science (Med)2007 - 2009
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College of Medicine Diploma of HIV Management2005 - 2005
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University of the Witwatersrand Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBCh)1994 - 1999
Projects & Funding
Projects & funding information is unavailable.
Publications (83)
- Uptake and timing of viral load testing and frequency of viraemic episodes during pregnancy in South Africa Save
- Care for the Caregiver: How Caregiver Mortality Affects Treatment Outcomes—An Observational Cohort Study Save
- Cohort profile: Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital maternal HIV cohort, Johannesburg, South Africa Save
- Minimal Cross-resistance to Tenofovir in Children and Adolescents Failing ART Makes Them Eligible for Tenofovir-Lamivudine-Dolutegravir Treatment Save
- The next generation: Pregnancy in adolescents and women living with perinatally acquired HIV in South Africa Save
- Virologic response of adolescents living with perinatally acquired HIV receiving antiretroviral therapy in the period of early adolescence (10-14 years) in South Africa Save
- Variations in the characteristics and outcomes of children living with HIV following universal ART in sub-Saharan Africa (2006–17): a retrospective cohort study Save
- Improving Methods to Classify Perinatal versus Nonperinatal HIV Acquisition in Young Adolescents 10-14 Years of Age Save
- Evaluation of the Aptima HIV-1 Quant Dx assay for HIV diagnosis at birth in South Africa Save
- False-positive rapid diagnostic tests in paediatric and obstetric patients in South Africa Save