Administration

Ilse Truter

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

Prof Ilse Truter Ilse Truter is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Pharmacy and leader of the Drug Utilization Research Unit (DURU) at Nelson Mandela University (NMU) in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. She is since July 2020 also the Director of the School of Clinical Care & Medicinal Sciences in the Faculty of Health Sciences at NMU. Ilse holds two doctorates (in Pharmacy and Business Management), and is a registered pharmacist. She has successfully completed the international accredited Travel Medicine Course, and is a member of the WHO International Working Group for Drug Statistics Methodology since 2017. Ilse has authored 130 peer-reviewed research articles, three chapters in books, and 163 articles in local/professional journals. She is a National Research Foundation (NRF) C2-rated researcher. Her research field is pharmacoepidemiology (including drug utilisation research and pharmacoeconomics), and clinical pharmacy. Ilse is an elected member of the South African Pharmacy Council, a member of Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa, and a council member of the South African Association of Health Educationalists. Ilse is also a fellow of the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE) and a member of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). She is a founding member of the Medicines Utilisation Research in Africa (MURIA) group, and one of the regional leads for the newly established ISPE African Chapter. Ilse has supervised 22 masters’ degrees and 10 doctoral studies, and is currently supervising a further 6 postgraduate students. She is a registered assessor, evaluator for the Council on Higher Education (CHE) in South Africa, and reviewer for the NRF. She has conducted training on drug utilisation research methodology, including the ATC/DDD System, in several African countries, serves as moderator and external examiner for several local and international universities, and serves on the international editorial board of the International Journal of Pharmacy Practice. 

 Riaan van de Venter

Institution: Nelson Mandela University

Dr Riaan van de Venter is a lecturer in the Department of Radiography. Their professional background is in diagnostic radiography, bioethics, health law, tertiary education and distance higher education. They teach at all four-year levels in the Bachelor of Radiography in Diagnostics programme, at fourth year level in the MBCHB programme, and supervise final year undergraduate, master’s and doctoral research projects. They were a research assistant at City, University of London during 2020/2021. They have published more than 20 peer-reviewed articles, 4 book chapters, and presented more than 30 national/international conferences presentations (podium and poster).

Riaan’s research focusses on workforce development, professional education, artificial intelligence, role extension, image interpretation, person-centred care, as well as gender and sexual minorities. They are currently the president of the Society of Radiographers of South Africa, a steering committee member of the International Academic Network Research Group of the International Society of Radiographers and Radiological Technologists, an Associate Editor for the Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences, the co-editor for The South African Radiographer.

University of KwaZulu Natal (Veena is the treasurer)

Dr Veena Singaram serves as Co-Director of the Clinical and Professional Practice Research Group in the School of Clinical Medicine, College of Health Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She started her career in Human Anatomy and then specialized in Health Professions Education. Her qualifications include a BMedSc (UKZN), MMedSc (UKZN), Certificate in Higher Education Practice (Oxford Brookes University, U.K) and PhD in Health Professions Education (Maastricht University, Netherlands). Dr Singaram is a fellow of the Southern African Foundation for Advancement in Medical Education and Research (SAFRI) and was elected to serve on the first SAFRI Board. She serves as the Kwa-Zulu Natal Chair and is the National Treasurer and executive member of the South African Association of Health Educationalists (SAAHE). She has published widely in health professions education and has graduated, supervised and examined several doctoral and masters students nationally and internationally. She has conducted workshops, presented and chaired at numerous international and national conferences and was appointed the national SAAHE Conference Chair for 2013 and 2018.   Dr Singaram was awarded several research grants and is a reviewer for national and international journals in medical and health professions education. She serves as an educationalist for the SA Medical and Dental accrediting council and was awarded the Higher Education Leadership and Management Lead Fellowship (2013) from Higher Education South African (HESA). As an active member in the community she is involved in amidst others; welfare projects and programs related to medical, education, family welfare, poverty alleviation, education and women empowerment. Dr Singaram is an educational consultant to the Faculty of Peace Studies and Spirituality of the Ramakrishna Centre of SA, Durban Centre. She is also appointed as a secretary and manages the medical education portfolio of the Centre.  Dr Singaram is an Adjunct Faculty member of the Hindu University of America. She is married and has two children.

poovendhree Reddy

Professor, Department of Community Health Studies, Faculty of Health Sciences,

Durban University of Technology

Her area of interest is public health with emphasis on maternal and child health; water management and quality related to antimicrobial resistance and health risk assessment. She has special interest in biostatistics and epidemiology. Her experience in higher education include academic management and leadership, teaching scholarship in research methodology and research supervision. Apart from her active participation in DUT’s research agenda in terms of capacity building and development within her faculty and department, she is involved in numerous external engagements related to research (editorial board member, journal reviewer and advisory boards). She has extensive Research Ethics experience as she serves on the Faculty of Health Sciences Research Committee, the DUT Research Ethics Committee and the UKZN IBC (Biosafety and Ethics Committee).  She represents DUT’s Faculty of Health Sciences on SAAHE and is engaged in scholarship related to incorporating research into teaching and learning in health education. She is also aligned with the Education for Sustainable Healthcare special interest group (SIG) within SAAHE.

ORCID: (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0197-8951)

Gerda Reitsma

North West University

Paula Ashton-Barnard

University of the Witwatersran

 simone titus

University of Western Cape

Simone Titus is an Associate Professor and Teaching and Learning specialist in the Interprofessional Education Unit in the Faculty of Community and Health Science at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. She graduated with a PhD in Education from the University of Cape Town where she developed an interest in the use of emerging technologies as a tool to mediate learning. Her special research interests are focused on game-based learning and using emerging technologies to foster cross cultural interaction, learning, and engagement in higher education. She is currently the recipient of the Black Academic Advancement Programme where her specific research focus is on the use of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality on Health Sciences Education. She is the current Chairperson of the Western Cape Region Branch of the Southern African Association of Heath Educationists (SAAHE). Simone may be contacted on: sititus@uwc.ac.za

Shalote Chipamaunga

University of Zimbabwe

Shalote Chipamaunga is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Health Professions Education, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Zimbabwe. Prior to this, she held a similar position at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa where she obtained her PhD in Medical Education. For the past 14 years, Shalote has combined her background in nursing, midwifery and adult education to monitor and improve the quality of teaching and learning in health professions education. She has been instrumental in the conceptualisation and introduction of new programs to meet the demands presented by the complexities of the health field.

Shalote has acquired competencies in planning and implementation of IPE programmes involving nursing, medical, pharmacy and rehabilitation under-graduate programmes. As a senior lecturer in the Centre for Health Science Education, at Wits University, she was instrumental in the design, introduction, and implementation of an integrating course for first year medical, pharmacy and biokinetics undergraduate students. In this course, students were introduced to integrative approaches which required them to work on assignments and projects in interprofessional groups. Teamwork was the norm and there was evidence of appreciation of each other’s roles and responsibilities and better communication amongst the different disciplines. From the above experience, Shalote has great interest in research related to the implementation of IPE principles and enforcing collaborative practice amongst health care professionals. With empirical evidence on the effectiveness of IPE, Shalote hopes to contribute to SAAHE’s recognition as a strong force in the promotion of IPE.