Dr Sharon Vasuthevan
Education Executive
Life Healthcare, Midrand

Dr Sharon Vasuthevan is the Nursing & Quality Executive at Life Healthcare. She holds a PhD from the University of Pretoria (2005) and a Master of Science degree from Texas Woman’s University achieved through a Fulbright Scholarship in 1995. She joined the Life Healthcare Group in 2001 as National Training and Development Manager and in 2010 was appointed as Nursing & Quality Executive. Her responsibilities include managing nursing practice, nursing education, infection prevention and quality outcomes, safety, patient experience and legal compliance. She has served on several Committees and Societies and is the past Chairperson of the Nursing Education Association (NEA). She served on the SANC for two terms until she resigned in 2016. She is author and editor of articles and books which are currently used by both post-graduate and undergraduate nurses in South Africa.

Dr Wilhelm van Zijl
Clinical Radiation Oncologist
MBChB, MMed (Rad Onc) FC RadOnc (SA), MBA

Dr Wilhelm van Zijl qualified in 1992 with MBChB from the University of Pretoria. For many years he spent his time on the management of healthcare systems during which he obtained an MMed Community Health and Master of Business Science. Oncology lured him back into clinical work and he went back to the Free State University to obtain an M Med Radiation Oncology degree and College of Medicine qualification in 2013. He immediately joined the group of Dr Alberts, Bouwer & Jordaan based at the Wilgers hospital and became a partner in 2015. His primary interest is urogenital and in particular prostate cancer – as such he consults at the Pretoria Urology Hospital. With a focus on community service, he renders an outreach clinic service in Witbank on a weekly basis.

Dr Imtiaz Sooliman
Chairman & Founder
Gift of the Givers Foundation

Dr Sooliman was born in Potchefstroom, in South Africa’s North West Province, on 07 March 1962. He attended Sastri College in Durban and matriculated in 1978, going on to study medicine at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Medical School, qualifying as a medical doctor in 1984. Dr Sooliman commenced private practice in Pietermaritzburg in 1986, but chose to close his flourishing practice in mid-1994, choosing instead to focus his attention on Gift of the Givers Foundation, which he had founded in early August 1992. His establishment of Gift of the Givers Foundation was the consequence of a message Dr Sooliman, then aged 30, received from Sufi Sheikh Muhammed Saffer Effendi al Jerrahi, his spiritual leader in Istanbul, Turkey, who called on him to serve all people of all races, of all religions, of all colours, of all classes, of all political affiliations and of any geographical location… a calling he honoured then and continues to honour today. His endeavour in this regard has seen Gift of the Givers Foundation emerge as one of the most respected humanitarian organisations in the world and is today the largest disaster response agency of African origin anywhere on the continent.

Dr Charmaine Jacobs
Oncology Ward
ABJ Benoni Oncology Centre

Dr Charmaine Jacobs completed her medical studies in 1982 at the University of Free State. She worked in the Academic Hospital in the Department of Paediatrics for 15 years as Medical Officer in the Paediatric Oncology & Haematology Units. She has a special interest in Fanconi Anemia (FA) with several publications and is a member of the American and European collaboration committee for FA. From 1998 until 2017 she worked in Private Practice at Unitas Hospital in Pretoria in the Paediatric Oncology / Haematology Unit. In 2005 she did her Narrative and Pastoral Therapy Certification through UNISA. In 2010 she enrolled in Intensive Coaching Training through the International Neuroleadership Institute and became an International Certified Life Coach. In 2013 she obtained her Integrative Medicine Certificate through the Medicine Faculty of the University of Stellenbosch. Dr Charmaine joined the ABJ Benoni Oncology Centre in July 2017. She is responsible for the Oncology Ward patients at Glynnwood hospital.

Dr Geraldine Timothy
Head of Quality of Care
Discovery Health

Geraldine is a medical doctor who has specialised in Public Health Medicine. She has a master’s degree in Medicine (Community Health) and a diploma in Anesthetics additionally. She worked for 3 years in the UK managing patients with chronic diseases before returning to SA to further her interest in health care  management.  She has worked in the Managed Care Health insurance industry for 12 years and is currently Head of Quality of Care at Discovery Health. 

Mr Mark Heywood
Social Justice Activist
Treatment Action Campaign (TAC)

Mark Heywood is a social justice activist and former Executive Director and co-founder of SECTION27 as well as a co-founder of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC). He sits on the Boards of several health and human rights NGOs in South Africa and internationally. In 2022 he was recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Public Health Association of SA (PHASA). He is currently editor of Maverick Citizen, a section of the Daily Maverick that focuses on activism, human rights and social justice. He is also adjunct Professor at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance at the University of Cape Town; a distinguished visitor at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University Law Center; and a visiting scholar at the Bonavero Institute for Human Rights, Oxford University. He has written numerous articles on law, human rights, HIV/AIDS, health and literature and edited and written several books, including a book of poetry I Write What I Fight (2015) and a memoir, Get Up! Stand Up! Personal Journeys Towards Social Justice (2017).