Dr Rust Theron is a leading specialist physician with more than 25 years’ experience in private practice. He heads the COVID-19 emergency team at Durbanville Mediclinic. With a keen interest in research leading to his participation in numbers of International Trials in the field of asthma, diabetes and heart failure, and involvement in medical education at the University of Stellenbosch, Dr Rust Theron is keen to stimulate debate and participation in COVID-19 care in the country.

Award-winning journalist and author, Marion Scher is one of South Africa's top freelance journalists, media consultants and trainers. Having worked in all three forms of media - radio, television and print, including online - Marion consults and trains for many of South Africa's leading corporates and government departments as well as media houses. Successful communication is her passion and as she says: "No passion, no point."

Cassey started at The South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) as a volunteer telephone counsellor in the call center helping to man the Suicide Crisis Helpline over 17 years ago. Later she ran the Call Center and Press, and currently is Operations Director and Board Member. Cassey represents SADAG at national and international conferences, various press and media interviews, workshops and advocacy projects to help fight for patients’ rights and destigmatize mental health across the country. Focusing on various projects including Teen Suicide Prevention School Programme, Rural Outreach Projects, Support Groups, Responsible Reporting initiatives with press and media, Mental Health in the Workplace and recent advocacy projects including the Life Esidimeni crisis and Medical Aids.

Dr Adri Kok is a Specialist Physician in private practice in Alberton, South Africa. Her diabetic clinic was established in 1996 with a multi-disciplinary team. Dr Kok is an external examiner for Internal Medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and an honorary lecturer from 2019. She is passionate about ongoing education and mentoring of younger colleagues and continues to contribute to CME locally and internationally providing expert input in the fields of diabetes, osteoporosis, asthma, cardiovascular disease, heart failure and hypertension. She has been a national principal investigator for several multinational trials with a focus on diabetes. Dr Kok is a past president of the Faculty of Consulting Physicians of South Africa and of the International Society of Internal Medicine.

Dr Shaquir Salduker is a psychiatrist by training, and also have an interest in the management of chronic pain. He runs a pain clinic in Durban for the last 16 years, called the Durban Pain Clinic. The reason he got involved with pain is because a lot of patients who have been suffering with pain ultimately get referred to psychiatrists.

Dr Jeremy Nel, Infectious Diseases Expert is based at Helen Joseph Hospital, University of the Witwatersrand. He is an active member of the South African HIV Clinicians Society and has been involved in developing antiretroviral (ARV) therapy guidelines for our region. He has published widely in the field of HIV, TB, and COVID-19. Jeremy is also a member of the South African Ministerial Advisory Council on COVID-19 and is the national co-PI of WHO’s Solidarity Therapeutics Trial in South Africa.

Dr Blanche Cupido is a consultant adult cardiologist with a special interest in congenital heart disease, cardiac imaging, valvular heart disease. She graduated from the University of Cape town in 2001 and spent 2 years in Kwazulu Natal, completing her internship and community service. She completed her physician training at Groote Schuur Hospital in 2009 and her cardiology training in 2013. In 2016, she spent a year doing a post-graduate fellowship in Adult Congenital Heart Disease in Leeds, UK. In 2017, she also completed a certificate in advance heart failure management from the University of Zurich and the European Cardiac Academy. She currently works at Groote Schuur Hospital and the UCT Private Academic Hospital where she is the Head of Echocardiography and the Clinical Lead for Adult Congenital Heart Disease. Dr Cupido is currently the past president of the South African Heart Association (SA Heart).

Dr Tshegofatso Mabelane is the Director of About Allergy, offering sub-specialist care in Allergy and Clinical Immunology. She obtained her subspecialist qualification in Allergology through the University of Cape Town and College of Medicine South Africa. She also did the allergy exam with the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology under the European Union of Medical Specialists. Dr Mabelane serves as an executive committee member of the Allergy Society of South Africa, Chairperson of the Diploma in Allergy for the College of Medicine South Africa and Food allergy committee member for the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. She recently published a book named the Basics of Allergy in primary care.

Professor Riaan van Coller is a practicing neurologist in Pretoria, South Africa. Main interest is in Parkinson’s disease and movement disorders and Deep Brain Stimulation, on which he has published several scientific papers. Appointed as a consultant and extraordinary professor in the Neurology Department, University of Pretoria, where he is involved in research and teaching under-graduate students and neurologists in training, in movement disorders. Completed medical and neurology training at the University of Pretoria and completed a PhD in neurology at UP in 2021. Active in the International Parkinson’s disease and Movement disorders society: since 2021 as a member of the executive committee of the African Section, and as a member of the central bylaws committee. He is active in the South African Movement Disorders Interest Group.

Experienced, Competent, Caring Neurologist with a demonstrated history of working and excelling in different types of health care settings. We strive for safe, comprehensive, compassionate holistic care of patients. A passionate and dedicated professional, Dr Huth is a Director on the board of the Neurological Association of South Africa (NASA) with the responsibility for representing the majority of the country's Neurologists in engaging with the South African private health care sector and directing the profession. We practice General Neurology and Hospital Neurology, with interests in research and expert management of Headache, Dementia and Neurophysiology of Neuromuscular disease and Epilepsy.

Dr Vorster is an experienced pulmonologist who treats pleural diseases and specialises in sports-related respiratory illnesses. He performed bronchoscopy and fluoroscopy to treat chronic respiratory conditions. Dr Vorster graduated with a BSc cum laude and soon after attained his MBChB from Stellenbosch University. He is a Member of The College of Royal Physicians (MRCP) and completed his training as a specialist physician in Worcester. Ten of Dr Vorster's publications include work related to tuberculosis and pleural diseases. He specialised in pulmonology and attained his Masters in interventional pulmonology and thoracoscopy sedation.

Dr Martin Mpe is a private cardiologist at Mediclinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria and also serves as acting Head of the Heart Unit at No. 1 Military Hospital in Thaba-Tshwane where he assists in interventional cardiology and cardiac pacing, including cardiac resynchronisation therapy and ICD implants. As current President of both the SA Heart Failure Society and the SA Hypertension Society, he is committed to ongoing professional education of clinicians throughout the country and in the rest of Africa.

Dr Rykie Liebenberg, Psychiatrist in private practice in Sandton is a champion of ADHD care in South Africa. Dr Liebenberg is a co-founder and co-convenor of the special interest group on adult ADHD. She is also a co- author of the South African Guidelines for ADHD. Her clinical experience includes five years at West End TB and psychiatric hospital in Kimberley as superintendent, and two years at Elcon school for physically disabled children. Her postgraduate studies were completed at Wits, where she served as both consultant and head of unit at Johannesburg Hospital from 1996 until 2002. Her commitment to ongoing medical education and clinical training is recognised throughout the country.

Dr David Smart is a specialist urologist in private practice, based in Pietermaritzburg for the past 20 years. Currently he is President of the South African Urology Association and has also contributed significantly to the training of South African urologists through the SA Colleges of Medicine. He has a particular interest in clinical education, clinical trials and research and has served as the editor of the quarterly Journal, Urology Today.

Prof Linda-Gail Bekker is the Director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town. She also serves as Chief Operations Officer of the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation. She is a physician scientist and infectious disease specialist. Her research interests include programmatic and action research around antiretroviral roll out and TB integration, prevention of HIV in women, youth and MSM.

Claudia Gray is a paediatrician with subspecialist training in both allergy and pharmacology. Her basic medical training was undertaken in South Africa and the specialty training in the United Kingdom. Currently she heads up the Kidsallergy Centre - a busy paediatric and allergy clinic in Cape Town. She also does sessions at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital as a paediatric allergy specialist and is an Associate Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Cape Town.

Professor Oosthuizen is a specialist psychiatrist with extensive experience in private practice. He worked as a Senior Consultant Psychiatrist in the Department of Psychiatry at Stellenbosch University until being awarded the title of Associate Professor in 2003. Professor Oosthuizen served as the Head of Neuropsychiatry at Tygerberg Hospital between 2003 and 2009, after which he returned to private practice. Professor Oosthuizen continues to lecture and conduct research as an Extraordinary Associate Professor at Stellenbosch University. He is an author of over 80 journal publications and has made significant contributions to textbooks in psychiatry. His specific research interests include early psychosis, bipolar disorder, and neuropsychiatry.

Dr Jean Maritz studied medicine at Stellenbosch University where he specialised in medical virology. He remained at the National Health Laboratory Service at Tygerberg Hospital as a consultant virologist for 5 years before joining PathCare in January 2018. Jean’s research interests are broad and include novel molecular viral diagnostics, HIV reservoir dynamics as well as viral infections of the eye and the central nervous system.

Emeritus Professor, Wits University, retired. Professor Richards has led many critical care initiatives in Southern Africa and is currently involved in developing a new understanding of COVID-19 infection and its consequences.

Professor Madhi is the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences (WITS) and Director of the world-renowned Medical Research Council Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit (VIDA). He also chairs the National Advisory Group on Immunization in South Africa. Madhi has done extensive research on the epidemiology and clinical development of various vaccines which has informed WHO recommendations. For his work, Prof Madhi has received many awards and accolades including the Developing Countries Clinical Trial Partnership Award for Scientific Leadership.

Professor Richard van Zyl-Smit is a full time consultant in the E16 Respiratory Clinic and a Principal Investigator at the University of Cape Town Lung Institute. He leads the smoking cessation services at E16, the Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) clinic and the adolescent respiratory health service. He qualified as a pulmonologist, in 2007 and completed his PhD investigating the effects of tobacco smoke on human pulmonary immune responses to mycobacterial infection in 2011. After a post-doc placement in New York at the end of 2011, he returned to UCT to take up a position at the Lung Institute. In 2018 he formally joined the Division as a full time consultant. He has published in the field of TB diagnostics, asthma, COPD, critical care, smoking cessation and air pollution. His current research interests include COPD and asthma and, the interactions of tobacco smoke, vaping and air pollution on immunity, tuberculosis and the development of COPD.