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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
Our Latest Publications
Cryptococcal antigen titers and semi-quantitative assay scores among people with HIV-associated cryptococcal antigenemia
Tshiama M Mwamba, Nozuko P Blasich, Lindi M Coetzee, Rudzani Mashau, Nelesh P Govender
Distribution of capsule and O types in Klebsiella pneumoniae causing neonatal sepsis in Africa and South Asia: A meta-analysis of genome-predicted serotype prevalence to inform potential vaccine coverage
PMID: 41525325
PMCID: PMC12810917
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1004879
Maternal-infant Characteristics of Preterm and Term Neonates With Bloodstream Infections in Lower-tier Hospitals in South Africa: A Cross-sectional Study
PMID: 41495922
DOI: 10.1097/INF.0000000000005127
Molecular detection of Histoplasma capsulatum in environmental samples collected from South African caves
Tsidiso G Maphanga, Rutendo E Mapengo, Oresti Ventouras, Serisha D Naicker, Nelesh P Govender
Genomic epidemiology of Histoplasma in Africa
Rutendo E Mapengo, Tsidiso G Maphanga, Gaston I Jofre, Jonathan A Rader, David A Turissini, Monica Birkhead, S Ama Kwabia, Victoria E Sepúlveda, Maria José Buitrago, Marcus de Melo Teixeira, Bridget M Barker, Alexandre Alanio, Aude Sturny-Leclère, Dea Garcia-Hermoso, Nelesh P Govender, Daniel R Matute
Recent Systemic Antifungal Exposure and Nonsusceptible Candida in Hospitalized Patients, South Africa, 2012-2017
Charlotte Rabault, Liliwe Shuping, Ruth Mpembe, Vanessa Quan, Fanny Lanternier, Olivier Lortholary, Olivier Paccoud, Nelesh P Govender
First report of infections due to Candidozyma (formerly Candida) auris in Botswana, 2022-2024
Teresia W Gatonye, Tichaona Machiya, Janet John-Thubuka, Jack Mkubwa, Tlhalefo D Ntereke, Tshiamo Zankere, Kwana Lechiile, Chimwemwe Viola Tembo, Boingotlo Gopolang, Kabelo Zwinila, Celda Tiroyakgosi, Naledi Mannathoko, Margaret Mokomane, Daniel Loeto, Miriam Mwamba, Rudzani Mashau, Ruth Mpembe, Silondiwe Nzimande, Nelesh P Govender, David M Goldfarb, Ebbing Lautenbach, Susan Coffin, Britt Nakstad, Jonathan Strysko, Melissa Richard-Greenblatt
Diagnosis of cryptococcal meningitis in people living with HIV in low-income countries: barriers and strategies
Jonathan Falconer, Tshiamo M Mmotsa, Nelesh P Govender, Joseph N Jarvis