Faculty of Health Sciences
Prof E Buch, Dean
Telephone number: 012 354 2386
E-mail address: erich.buch@up.ac.za
Message by the Dean
The Faculty of Health Sciences continues to strive towards merging clinical
service delivery, health professions education and world-class research.
The hallmark of the Faculty's research remains its focus on health, and the
health care challenges facing South Africa and Africa, from laboratory-
based, cutting-edge science to finding solutions to healthcare burdens.
The Faculty's research is supported by a range of expert laboratories and
has achieved a number of global discoveries, led by its Medical Research
Council (MRC) research units, its research centres and its active participation
in University-accredited research themes.
The Faculty is a partner in three institutional research themes, as
well as two faculty research themes. The number of NRF-rated
scientists in the Faculty has grown to 19.
The MRC Maternal and Infant Health Care Strategies Research
Unit develops health care strategies at primary and secondary
care levels to reduce mortality and morbidity in mothers and
infants. The Unit is involved in the upscaling of emergency
obstetric care to 25 health districts in South Africa. The
Essential Steps in Managing Obstetric Emergencies Programme,
that is being used in the Unit, was developed and tested in
collaboration with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine,
the national Department of Health, as well as the medical
schools and professional bodies representing stakeholders such
as obstetricians, midwives, paediatricians and anaesthetists. A
major upscaling programme is being funded by the United Kingdom Department for International Development and the national
Department of Health. The MRC Unit for Inflammation and Immunity undertakes research with clear clinical or translational
objectives into acute and chronic inflammatory disorders of both infective (HIV/Aids, tuberculosis, severe pneumococcal diseases)
and non-infective (bronchial asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, toxicity of heavy metals in both the environmental and occupational
settings) origin, as well as cigarette smoking as a major risk factor for the development of respiratory infection and resistance to
antibiotics, with several PhD candidates in the programme.
The UP Centre for Sustainable Malaria Control is pioneering research on a range of sustainable malaria control methods from
the chemical to the biological at a transdisciplinary level. The Faculty, in collaboration with the University of California Berkeley,
received a US National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant for five years to study the effect of pesticides for malaria control on the
neurodevelopment of children. The Forensic Anthropology Research Centre is involved in the recovery and analysis of human
remains from both forensic and archaeological contexts. Recent developments include research to better estimate time since
death in human remains discovered in an advanced stage of decomposition, and detailed assessments of skeletal blunt and
sharp force trauma. The Applied Morphology Research Centre focuses on the ultrastructure of platelets and fibrin networks in
conditions related to inflammation, including cerebrovascular incidents, diabetes and smoking. Research collaborations include
research with Harvard Medical School, the University of Queensland and the University of Manchester. The Comprehensive
Physical Rehabilitation Centre undertakes multidisciplinary research involving physiotherapists, occupational therapists, sports
medicine scientists, dieticians and others to understand and devise treatments for complex cases of disability. The Institute for
Cellular and Molecular Medicine is working on cell-based therapies to achieve an HIV-resistant immune system, exploring the
therapeutic potential of mesenchymal stem cells and building tissue engineering scaffolds. Funding has been awarded to the
Southern African Human Genome Programme (of which the Institute is part) by the Department of Science and Technology (DST)
for the sequencing of more than 20 full southern African human genomes. Substantial funding has also been obtained from the
Technology Innovation Agency (TIA). The Faculty's other research interest groups reflect the diversity of its contribution to health
knowledge and interventions. These include the novel use of nuclear medicine methodologies in Aids and tuberculosis, exploring
fibrin network morphology in strokes and burn wounds, drug discovery research (including traditional African medicines) and the
performance of an array of clinical trials (including affordable new cancer treatments).
The unique genetic characteristics of schizophrenia and mitochondrial diseases in South Africans have been recorded, and unique
viral types of the human papillomavirus have been found in cervical cancer. The role of the mouth as a cellular reservoir for HIV
persistence has been described, as has the immuno-histochemical profile of oral plasmablastic lymphoma and the identification
of early molecular markers of malignancy in the mouth. A national dataset has been established to explore exposure and risk to
oral health.
Prof E Buch
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