Dr Thandeka Moyo-Gwete, Senior Medical Scientist at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in Johannesburg, South Africa, holds a PhD in Clinical Science and Immunology from the University of Cape Town where she looked at the mechanisms used by various HIV strains to gain resistance to broadly neutralising antibody responses. Dr Moyo-Gwete’s current research involves understanding the structure and function of HIV neutralising antibodies by X-ray crystallography. More recently she has added SARS-CoV-2 to her research focus, developing serological assays to measure humoral responses to infection and vaccination.

Dr Mazvita Muchengeti (MBChB, Dip HIV Management, MSc Epidemiology & Biostatistics, PhD) is a Senior Epidemiologist at the National Cancer Registry (NCR) and is responsible for leading research staff and students. Her main research interests lie in cancer surveillance and infection-related cancers in African populations. She leads the South African HIV Cancer Match Study, a national virtual cohort of people living with HIV, created from NHLS HIV laboratory data and NCR cancer data using probabilistic record linkage methodology. She is also a senior honorary lecturer at the Wits School of Public Health and a research associate at SACEMA, Stellenbosch University.

Dr Etienne Muller is a Principal Medical Scientist at the Sexually Transmitted Infection Section in the Centre for HIV & Sexually Transmitted Infections at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in Johannesburg, South Africa. Muller does research in public health and sexually transmitted infections, and supervises the molecular testing activities for STI surveillance and research within the STI Section. His own research focuses on the molecular detection of antimicrobial resistance determinants in STI pathogens, and the development and implementation of molecular-based STI typing methods. Muller participates in the conception and execution of departmental research projects on STIs, provides supervision to staff and student research projects and assists with departmental teaching commitments.

Dr Givemore Munhenga is an NRF rated scientist with over ten years experience providing expertise and research in agriculture and public health. He is experienced in malaria vectors ecology and behaviour regarding malaria transmission, has solid knowledge in insect taxonomy, insect colony establishment and maintenance, molecular techniques and insecticide resistance monitoring. Munhenga is employed as a Principal Medical Scientist at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases and holds a joint appointment as a Senior Researcher within the Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Pathology at the University of Witwatersrand.
Munhenga’s research interests include understanding interactions between ecological forces, such as exposure to insecticides that lead to behavioural modification in malaria vectors and subsequent changes in habitat colonisation. The ultimate objective is to use this knowledge to develop new techniques to complement existing malaria interventions.
Main projects:
1) Development of the SIT for Anopheles arabiensis control in South Africa.
2) Evaluation and optimisation of mosquito surveillance systems under low malaria transmission settings
3) Genetic structuring in the primary malaria vector Anopheles arabiensis and implication on vector control in South Africa.
4) Development of an Anopheles arabiensis sex separation strain for the South African Sterile Insect Technique programme
5) Investigating New Models for Community Engagement during vector control methods that involve the release of laboratory-reared mosquito releases.
6) Exploring the potential of geospatial tools to understand Anopheles arabiensis population dynamics in KZN

Dr Sandrama Nadan holds a BSc degree in Microbiology and Biochemistry from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, an honours degree from the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, and a master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Pretoria. She is actively involved in enteric diarrhoeal research and is currently a Senior Medical Scientist at the Centre for Enteric Diseases at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Dr Nadan is involved in training young scientists, intern scientists and postgraduate students. She also serves as a reviewer for peer-reviewed scientific publications. Her research interests lie in the molecular epidemiology of viruses, childhood diarrhoeal diseases and public health. She has a keen interest in vaccination development and rollouts, including surveillance and monitoring the changes in the healthcare environment post-vaccination.
She has authored, and is co-authored several scientific articles published in peer-reviewed journals and is the recipient of a PRF grant and the NHLS Research Trust grant. Her current research project is investigation of the molecular characterisation of astroviruses, a viral aetiological agent of diarrhoea in humans. The aim of the project is to develop alternate methods for identification of different genotypes and thereby present revised criteria for the current system used in astrovirus classification.

Dr Serisha Naicker is a registered Medical Scientist at the Mycology Reference Laboratory (MRL) in the Centre for Healthcare-Associated Infections, Antimicrobial Resistance and Mycoses at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in Johannesburg, South Africa. Her research career at the NICD began as a Medical Scientist Intern in 2012 after completing a Master of Science in Medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand. She undertook her undergraduate studies at the same university and completed a Medical Scientist internship to register as part of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). Naicker is currently pursuing a PhD in Medical Microbiology.
She performs molecular testing (identification and genotyping) on fungal pathogens and is involved in various research projects on fungal pathogens. Naicker has worked on the molecular epidemiology, antifungal susceptibility testing and virulence of clinical Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii isolates collected through GERMS-SA surveillance, which then became the subject of her PhD project. Her current research projects include yeasts, such as Candida auris and Candida glabrata, as well as moulds and dimorphic fungi.

Dr Shüné Oliver obtained her undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications at the University of Witswatersrand (Wits), shifting from the School of Molecular and Cell Biology where she majored in Microbiology and Biochemistry, culminating in an immunity-focused MSc in Biochemistry. She moved from working on the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to mosquitoes with her PhD. During her PhD, she began her independent research career with NRF Thuthuka pre-and post-PhD funding. After obtaining her PhD in 2015, she was awarded an NRF Y-rating in 2021. Her work focusses on the global effects of insecticide resistance on the biology of malaria vectors. This includes understanding the effect of environmental stress on this interaction, characterising the role of microbiome in mosquito biology, and unpicking the interplay between insecticide resistance and the mosquito immune system.
Oliver’s research brings together her background in molecular biology with her love of mosquitoes. She is also involved in various aspects of science communication, with an aim of making entomology accessible to the public. She is intensively involved in academic citizenship, including executive roles in the Entomological Society of South Africa and Wits Women in Science committees. She is also actively involved in both undergraduate teaching and postgraduate supervision.

Dr Shaheed Vally Omar MSc(Med) PhD(Med), is a Medical Scientist with specialisation in Microbiology, focusing on Mycobacterium tuberculosis research since his post-graduate training. He currently leads the following scientific programmes in the Centre for Tuberculosis at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in Johannesburg, South Africa; diagnostic evaluations for both active and latent disease state; drug resistance determination and surveillance; molecular epidemiology of drug resistance tuberculosis; and the application of novel technologies for these purposes. He further is the lead scientist of the National TB Reference Laboratory as well as the WHO TB Supranational Laboratory Network.
Dr. Omar has been instrumental in the establishment and implementation of molecular-based applications at the centre, which shaped capacity to perform molecular typing and Next-Generation Sequencing. His current research focus includes; evaluation of the new technologies for detection and drug resistance prediction of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, establishment of breakpoints and critical concentrations for diagnostic laboratory phenotypic drug susceptibility testing of new and repurposed drugs, surveillance, emergence and evolution of drug resistance to these novel drugs, the identification of genetic correlates/markers associated with drug resistance and a survey on latent TB infection in Health Care Workers in South Africa.
He has over 50 peer-reviewed publications and has participated as a presenter or invited speaker at over 60 local and international conferences preceding. He further serves as a peer reviewer for several accredited journals.
His collaborations are both local and international and he is currently a Principal Investigator for South Africa on several studies contributing to the development on novel strategies for the diagnosis of tuberculosis and drug resistance detection and control of the burden of disease. He is member on the Comprehensive Resistance Prediction for Tuberculosis: An International Consortium (CRyPTIC) and Public Health Alliance for Genomic Epidemiology (PHAGE consortium), which focuses on operationalizing next-generation sequencing for diagnostic and surveillance applications. He has been selected to form part of the Expert Panel and Technical Expert Group advising in his area of expertise for the Foundation for New Innovative Diagnostics and the World Health Organization, respectively.

Nishi Prabdial-Sing is employed as a Principal Medical Scientist at the Centre for Vaccines and Immunology at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases located in Johannesburg, South Africa. She has a PhD degree in Medical Virology from the School of Pathology at the University of Witwatersrand.
As a joint faculty member at WITS Faculty of Health Sciences, Prabdial-Sing has successfully supervised and co-supervised seven Honours/Masters students at WITS and North West University. She was appointed as a member of the Pathred Advisory Committee (Virology) for the 2021 Pathred conference and an assessor of Masters protocols at WITS. She has 17 peer-reviewed journal publications, 8 NICD bulletin publications, and was awarded a C2 NRF-rating. She holds research awards from the Poliomyelitis Research Fund and NHLS research trust (2019-2022).
Prabdial-Sing is a member of the technical working group (TWG) on the compilation of the National Guidelines for the management of viral hepatitis with the South African National Department of Health (NDoH). Since 2018, she has been part of the key population focus group tasked with providing the NDoH with strategic and feasible plans of reducing the burden of viral hepatitis disease in the country. Since 2015, she has been involved with the World Health Organization as an expert consultant in the global poliovirus eradication program and was part of the NICD scientific team in the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone. Since 2012, she has been co-ordinating the HPCSA medical science internship programs and facilitating the Virology program at the NICD. She has successfully trained and mentored 19 medical intern scientists.
Currently, she is a member of Federation of the Infectious Diseases Societies of Southern Africa (FIDSSA), Royal Society of Medicine, UK and International Network on Health and Hepatitis in Substance Users (INHSU).