FACULTY SENIOR ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS & PROMOTIONS

PERSONAL PROFESSOR, School of Clinical Medicine

Professor Sithembiso Velaphi

Professor Velaphi is a Paediatrician with a sub-speciality in Neonatology, currently serving as the Clinical Head of Paediatrics at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.

Professor Velaphi is in the process of applying for NRF rating. He is a full-time clinician, who has managed to establish himself as an international researcher in Neonatology. His Google Scholar Hindex is 33 with 5751 citations. He has 75 international peer reviewed publications and 26 peer reviewed publications in local journals, as well as three book chapters and 76 published conference abstracts. He has delivered 11 keynote addresses in the past 2 years. Associate Professor Velaphi is an excellent grantsman, having secured major grants including SA Medical Research Council and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Associate Professor Velaphi is involved in international collaborative research, notably on neonatal sepsis, and received a silver SAMRC Research Award in 2016.

Professor Velaphi is considered a distinguished teacher at both Undergraduate and Postgraduate level with more than 30 years of experience in teaching and training. He is integrally involved in Paediatric Undergraduate training for GEMP students. He has supervised 19 Masters students to completion and is supervising a further 3 Masters and 2 Doctoral students. He has also increasingly been involved in curricular development.

He is an advocate for newborn infants in South Africa and has made a substantial lifetime contribution to reducing neonatal mortality. He serves on the International Liaison Committee for Resuscitation (ILCOR). He promoted “Helping Babies Breathe” between 2015 and 2020 in the Eastern Cape. Over the last 15 years, he has been involved in the marking of MMeds from across the country as an external examiner. He served on the OCH Task Team for developing District Clinical Specialists. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Priorities in Perinatal Care Congress many times and is currently the President of USAMA. He is also regarded as an authority figure in Neonatology, with respect to local guidelines. He is involved in not only the writing of international guidelines but also in the training of scores of healthcare professionals on how to be better in conducting neonatal resuscitation. He serves on provincial and national Department of Health committee’s notable of which is the COMIC (ministerial committee on infant mortality).

We congratulate Professor Velaphi on his promotion to Personal Professor