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Established in
Wits Mycology aims to improve the outcomes of people with varied lived experiences who are affected by life-threatening or disabling fungal diseases through clinical trials, observational studies, social science studies, and laboratory research and innovation. Our research also stretches to other important infectious diseases. We work in South Africa, across the African continent and globally.
Wits Mycology was established in 2016 and is an academic division in the School of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand. The division is currently based at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases’ Sandringham campus in Johannesburg. We have satellite offices for our clinical teams in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), Durban and Pietermaritzburg.
Project Leadership
Get to know the experts behind the Wits Mycology division
Professor Nelesh Govender
Nelesh Govender leads the division’s efforts to improve outcomes for people affected by life-threatening fungal diseases.
Dr Rae Wake
Based in Johannesburg, Rae Wake is an Infectious Diseases clinician and honorary senior researcher, acting as deputy head in the division and co-Principal Investigator of Sub-EFFECT, ADVANCE GERMS-SA and COMBAT Candida.
Dr Emily Prendergast
Based at Helen Joseph Hospital in Johannesburg, Emily Prendergast is the lead clinician for the ADVANCE GERMS-SA study, investigator on the CAST-OFF study and a co-facilitator of an Expert Patient Group in Johannesburg formed of individuals with lived experiences of advanced HIV disease.
Dr Jonathan Falconer
Based at the MSF SAMU office in Cape Town, Jonathan Falconer leads the IMPRINT AmbiOne project which aims to implement high-quality care for people with cryptococcal meningitis in partnership with Medecins Sans Frontieres.
Dr Juliet Rundogo
Juliet Rundogo is a research clinician with experience in clinical trials, driven by a passion for public health. Based at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto, she is the lead clinician for Sub-EFFECT and a sub-investigator on ADVANCE GERMS-SA and EFFECT.
Dr Kyla Murphy
Based in Cape Town, Kyla Murphy is the lead clinician for the EFFECT trial and national principal investigator for the 5FC-PROTECT trial. She is involved in several other observational studies including Sub-EFFECT, CAST-OFF and INSPECT-Crypto as well as the EFFECT and IMPRINT Health Economics projects.
Dr Lauriane Fomete
Lauriane Fomete is the clinical trial operations manager on the CombAT Candida study, who oversees the planning, execution and management of the study at the five hospitals across Johannesburg.
Liliwe Shuping
Liliwe Shuping is an experienced epidemiologist working across the division’s projects. Her work addresses bacterial and fungal infections including the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance among vulnerable populations.
Michelle Eriksson
Michelle Eriksson is the clinical trial operations manager on the EFFECT trial, who oversees the planning, execution and management of the trial in SA and Tanzania.
Dr Raphaela Berghammer-Böhmer
Raphaela Berghammer-Bohmer is the lead clinician on the CombAT Candida study, co-ordinating and facilitating clinical activities at five hospitals across Johannesburg.
Rudzani Mashau
Based at Wits Mycology’s NICD site in Sandringham, Rudzani Mashau is a nurse-epidemiologist who co-leads the Fungal Surv Project, a regional surveillance initiative across Southern Africa, strengthening laboratory and epidemiological capacity for fungal pathogen detection and AMR surveillance. She is the lead on a GAMRIF/Failsafe-funded wastewater surveillance project.
Ruth Mpembe
Ruth Mpembe is the lab lead for the Wits Mycology Division and co-project lead for Fungal Surv. She is also the lab manager of the NICD’s Mycology Reference Lab.
Dr Serisha Naicker
Serisha Naicker is a senior medical scientist working on characterising fungal pathogens with a passion for building fungal research capacity. She is the lead for the Wellcome-funded CryptoADAPT project.
Active Projects
Efficacy of Flucytosine and Fluconazole as Early Cryptococcal Treatment (EFFECT)
International Mycoses Prevention Research Implementation Networks and Training (IMPRINT)
Reflex CD4 Project
CryptoADAPT Project
Combination-Antifungal-Therapy-against-Candida-Blood-Stream-Infections (CombAT)
Surveillance and Investigation of Severe Bacterial and Fungal Infections among Hospitalised Patients with Advanced HIV Disease in South Africa (ADVANCE Germs)
The Fungal Disease Surveillance and Capacity in the Southern African Region Project (Fungal Surv)
Baby GERMS Outbreak Project
Cryptococcal Antigenaemia Screening and Treatment – Observations From the Field in South Africa
Closed Projects
Baby GERMS-SA Surveillance Project
DATCOV Enhanced Sentinel Surveillance Project
CAST-NET Cohort Study
Interested in collaborating on our projects?
Contact us today to find out more about our projects
Latest News
IMPRINT December 2025 Newsletter-Issue #9
Hello and welcome to the ninth edition of the IMPRINT newsletter, in which we will keep you updated on the…
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When Science Finds a Way
In a recent episode of When Science Finds a Way, a podcast by the Wellcome Trust, leading researchers come together…
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Website Launch Announcement
Check out the newly launched Centre for Medical Mycology (CMM) in AFRICA website! The CMM in AFRICA is a research…
Read MoreOur Latest Publications
SAHCS Guideline for the prevention, diagnosis and management of cryptococcal disease among persons living with HIV: Update to induction treatment for cryptococcal meningitis
Govender NP, Meintjes G, Falconer J, Murphy K, Nel J, Rabie H, Frigati L, Reddy DL, Dawood H, Variava E, Potgieter S, Boyles T, Stacey SL, Mangena P, Madua MC, Wattrus C, Moosa MS. SAHCS Guideline for the prevention, diagnosis and management of cryptococcal disease among persons living with HIV: Update to induction treatment for cryptococcal meningitis. South Afr J HIV Med. 2026 Mar 18;27(1):1789
Accelerated Increase in Candida auris Bloodstream Infections during COVID-19 Pandemic, South Africa
Ismail H, Perovic O, Mpembe R, Lowman W, Govind C, Ekermans P, Jassat W, Welch R, Govender NP. Accelerated Increase in Candida auris Bloodstream Infections during COVID-19 Pandemic, South Africa. Emerg Infect Dis. 2026 Apr;32(4):563-572.
Fluconazole plus flucytosine versus fluconazole alone for adults with HIV-associated cryptococcal antigenaemia identified through screening: a multi-centre phase III randomised-controlled trial
Murphy K, Nel JS, Moosa MY, Wilson DP, Tsitsi M, Mfinanga S, Kivuyo S, Kyazze D, Alam N, Meintjes G, Eriksson M, Adams J, Menezes C, Variava E, Black J, Bremer M, Dat VQ, Le T, Schutz C, Loyse A, Wake RM, Lawrence DS, Wang D, Jaffar S, Jarvis JN, Harrison TS, Molloy SF, Govender NP. Fluconazole plus flucytosine versus fluconazole alone for adults with HIV-associated cryptococcal antigenaemia identified through screening: a multi-centre phase III randomised-controlled trial. Trials. 2026 Mar 24.
Cryptococcal Antigenemia In South African Children Living With HIV
Gifford A, Mashau R, Mpembe R, Khanyile D, Maota T, Dube M, Kgoale B, Warris A, Govender NP. Cryptococcal Antigenemia in South African Children Living With HIV. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2026 Jan 28.
Closing the gap on antifungal resistance
Verweij PE, Alastruey-Izquierdo A, Amilon K, Cavling Arendrup M, Armstrong-James D, Bignell E, Boulware DR, Brandão J, Bromley M, Brown GD, Buil JB, Chakrabarti A, Chayakulkeeree M, Chiller T, Chindamporn A, Colombo AL, Cornely OA, Dannaoui E, Dufresne PJ, Forastiero A, Gangneux JP, Giske C, Govender NP, Gow NAR, Guillot J, Harrison T, Hoenigl M, Kontoyiannis DP, Lass-Flörl C, Le T, Li R, Medina N, Meis JF, Meletiadis J, Oladele RO, Ostrosky-Zeichner L, Patel AK, Perfect JR, Queiroz-Telles F, Rodriguez-Tudela JL, Rudramurthy SM, Salmanton García J, Dos Santos AR, Segal E, Seyedmousavi A, Song Y, Thompson GR, Vena A, Warris A, Wiederhold NP, Lackner M; International Society for Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM); Asia Fungal Working Group (AFWG); Pan-Africa Mycology Working Group (PAMWG); INFOCUS LATAM ISHAM associated Working Group; ISHAM/ECMM One Health Working Group (Focus AMR); ISHAM Environmental Fungal Exposure and Human Health Working Group; ISHAM Veterinary Mycology and One Health Working Group; ISHAM Sporotrichosis One Health Working Group; European Confederation for Medical Mycology (ECMM); ESCMID Fungal Infection Study Group (EFISG); Antifungal Susceptibility Testing Subcommittee of the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST‑AFST); Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) Subcommittee on Antifungal Susceptibility Tests; Mycoses Study Group Education and Research Consortium (MSGERC); Global Action for Fungal Infection (GAFFI); Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology at the University of Exeter; Fungal One Health and Antimicrobial Resistance Network (F1AMR). Closing the gap on antifungal resistance. Nat Med. 2026 Apr 15.
New 2030 Global Targets for Histoplasmosis from International Society for Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM) 2025 Histoplasmosis Working Group
Pasqualotto AC, Denning DW, Le T, Govender NP, Hagen F, Zancope-Oliveira RM, Caceres DH, Francoise U, Guimaraes A, Damasceno LS, Falci DR, Gomez BL, Schwartz I, Vidal JE, Galan LE, Xavier MO, Nacher M, Effron GG, Brown G, Barros N, Godoy CM, Fraga T, Soares RBA, Severo CB, Schwarzbold AV, Berrio I, de Melo MG, Reis N, Tenorio BG, Leitao TMJ, Bastos CJC, Bay MB, de Lacerda MVG, Bazana LCG, Lana DFD, Vieceli T, Riche CVW, Arathoon E, Canteros C, Boulware D, Alastruey-Izquierdo A, Oladele R, Teixeira MM, Colombo AL, Perez FM, Chiller T, Bahr NC, Tudela JLR, Adenis A. New 2030 Global Targets for Histoplasmosis from International Society for Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM) 2025 Histoplasmosis Working Group. Emerg Infect Dis. 2026 Mar;32(3):1-9.