Administration
SAAHE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE MEMBERS
Dr Elize Archer, MPhil, PhD is a senior lecturer in the CHPE (Centre for Health Professions Education) and the Head of the Simulation and Clinical Skills Centre (SCSU) at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University.
In the CHPE she is involved in faculty development as well as being a lecturer in the MPhil in HPE programme. She is the supervisor of many Masters students for their research projects.
In her role as the SCSU head she is involved in the planning of clinical skills curricula at the faculty and heads up a team of staff that presents a formalized clinical skills curriculum to the undergraduate MB, ChB curriculum as well as provide support to all programmes making use of the SCSU. She is also involved in clinical assessment and is part of a team that runs yearly OSCE’s for large groups of students. With regards to research, Elize was awarded funds that has allowed her to focus on the design and implementation of initiatives focused on the development of empathic communication skills in undergraduate and post graduate curricula. Her publications are mainly in this field.
Lizemari Hugo-Van Dyk is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Nursing, University of the Free State, where she is responsible for coordinating the second-year nursing undergraduate theoretical and practical modules. Lizemari holds a PhD degree in Nursing. Her field of interest and specialty is clinical nursing education, specifically clinical facilitation and student support. She consequently designed and is presenting an online clinical facilitator training programme for healthcare professionals. Currently, she is also developing a Postgraduate Diploma in Nursing Education.
Her other passion is health professions education. Hence, she serves on several departmental and faculty educational-focused committees to share ideas and learn with and from others. Regionally, she serves on the Southern African Association of Health Educationalists (SAAHE) Central Committee holding the academic portfolio and nationally, on the National SAAHE Board as secretary and representative of SAAHE Central.
Lizemari has successfully supervised several Master students and has acted as external postgraduate assessor for several higher education institutions. In her personal research, Lizemari is involved in several projects within and without the borders of South Africa. She is the principal investigator of interprofessional and national research projects.
Bennie Botha is passionate about human-computer interaction and extended reality as a teaching and learning modality, especially for health sciences education. I serve on the Paray School of Nursing senate, the SAAHE central region counsel (Portfolio for ICT) and the SAAHE national counsel (Treasurer). He originally studied investment management and banking after which he switched to computer science as it was my biggest passion. He currently hold a B.Sc IT, B.Sc IT (Hons) and an M.Sc CSI degree. He is also a PhD CSI candidate. His dream is to expand health professionals’ knowledge in the area of extended reality technologies and the benefits they can have for students. He is very passionate about his field and always want to share it with others.
Arnelle Mostert is a Medical Officer/Lecturer at the Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Free State (UFS). Arnelle is a qualified medical doctor with over 25 years of general practice experience. She also worked as a research physician at a clinical research institution. At the UFS, she coordinates and lectures four undergraduate integrated anatomy and physiology modules to nursing and medical students and the postgraduate MMed physiology module for clinical specialists. She holds a Master’s Degree in Health Professions Education.
Her fields of interest include quality of life, academic performance, and health professions education. She is passionate about teaching students the relevance of integrated anatomy and physiology and the clinical application in their prospective careers. In 2021, she received the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (first place) at the UFS. In addition, she received the Khothatsa Award for being an inspirational lecturer.
She is the departmental Education Workgroup chair and Engaged Scholarship Committee Vice-chair (former chair). In the Faculty of Health Sciences, she serves on the Faculty Research Forum Organising Committee as chair of the educational research portfolio and member of the Engaged Scholarship Committee. Regionally, she serves on the Southern African Association of Health Educationalists (SAAHE) Central Committee holding the administrative portfolio and nationally, on the National SAAHE Board and executive committee (EXCO) as secretary.
NATIONAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Chapter representitives
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Jeanette du Plessis
Dr Jeanette du Plessis is a lecturer in the Faculty of Health – and Environmental Science at the Central University of Technology in the programme Radiography from 2000. Before entering higher education, she was practising as a diagnostic radiographer at the Universitas Hospital in Bloemfontein. She acquired all her qualifications at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein. Although her big passion lies with the profession of radiography, health professions education and specifically the area of work-integrated learning and peer-assisted learning has developed into areas of special interest over the years.
Jeanette is married to Jean, has raised three sons and has a granddaughter and grandson.
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Riaan van Wyk
Clinical Simulation Expert at the University of the Free State
Riaan van Wyk obtained a BComm (IT) degree at the University of the Free State in 2000 and joined the private sector as an IT Systems engineer. His involvement in tertiary education began in 2012 as a technical expert at the Clinical Simulation and Skills Unit at the University of the Free State. He obtained a Master’s degree in 2016 and a PhD in HPE in 2021 (UFS).
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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.
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Veena Singaram
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 ReddyProfessor, 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.
Gerda Reitsma
North West University
Paula Ashton-Barnard
University of the Witwatersran
simone titusUniversity 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 ChipamaungaUniversity 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.