Mycology Division staff:
Nelesh Govender
Professor Govender is the founder and head of the WITS Mycology Division, Centre Head at CHARM (an NICD centre), a member of the Cryptococcal Meningitis Action Group, co-chair of the National Advanced HIV Disease Task Team and Neonatal Sepsis Task Force. He is Professor in the School of Pathology at the University of the Witwatersrand and is an Honorary/Visiting Professor at the University of Cape Town, St. George’s University of London and the University of Exeter
A major theme of Nelesh's research is HIV-associated fungal diseases, many of which are life-threatening. His research activities span: 1) laboratory science, 2) population-based observational epidemiological studies including cryptococcal meningitis, 3) cost-effectiveness modelling of public health interventions and treatments and 4) clinical trials. This research is aligned to his work as a centre head at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases where he runs South Africa’s national mycology reference laboratory
Síle Molloy
Dr Molloy has worked in the area of infectious disease clinical trials for over 15 years and has been involved in a several of cryptococcosis treatment trials (EFFECT/ AMBITION-cm/ ACTA) and implementation projects (DREAMM) aiming to improve outcomes for patients with HIV-associated cryptococcosis in a number of low-resource settings across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Síle is a Lecturer in Epidemiology at St Georges, University of London and holds an honorary lectureship at WITS University, SA. She is heavily involved in both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching developing and leading modules in Clinical Trials, Global Health and Neglected Tropical Diseases.
Rae Wake
Dr Wake holds a joint position with the Mycology Division and St George's (Institute of Infection and Immunity) she is a co-PI of the subEFFECT project and a member of the EFFECT TMG with a strong background in cryptococcal infections
Bongiwe Nkambule
Bongiwe joined the Mycology Division as the division project administrator. She holds a Bachelor of Social Work at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and has previously worked in educational NGOs offering tutoring, mentoring and computer literacy classes to high school learners. She has been involved in several research projests with DPHRU/Wits-MRC as a research assistant and project coordinator.
Her interests include community development, youth and women empowerment as well as education. She is currently studying towards an MSc in Medicine by Research in the Paediatrics and Child Health Department at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Miriam Mwamba
Miss Miriam Mwamba is a medical scientist with the Mycoloy Division. She had received training in microbiology and holds a Master of Science in Medicine.
She initially joined the division working on cryptococcal disease with a focus on validation of cryptococcal antigen tests. She has been involved in conducting nation-wide refresher training on cryptococcal disease in South Africa covering diagnosis, treatment, and troubleshooting.
She soon integrated other fungal pathogens, and is currently part of the team working on Fungal Genomic Surveillance which involves building fungal disease surveillance capacity in the Southern African region.
NICD members:
- Greg Stanford
- Rudzani Mashau
- Students memebers
- Project specific staff - See projects
Other Affiliates and members:
NICD honorary members:
- Susan
- Sabelle
- Husna
- Lili
- Tsidi
- Serisha
- Ruth