FACULTY SENIOR ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS & PROMOTIONS

RESEARCH PROFESSOR,

School of Clinical Medicine

Professor Micklesfield is the Deputy Director of the SAMRC/Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit (DPHRU). She has been employed at the University of the Witwatersrand since 2008, prior to which, she completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Cape Town (UCT).

Since completing her PhD in 2004, her research interest has been on physical activity and noncommunicable disease risk through the life course. Profofessor Micklesfield, has lead the “Adulthood and Aging Programme” of work within DPHRU, which seeks to build understanding of the effect of HIV and menopause in altering the trajectory of disease risk into middle-age and older adulthood, and the potential role of physical activity in ameliorating this risk. She played a key role in leading an initiative called: “The South African Healthy Aging Adult report card”, a systematic review of evidence published between 2013 and 2020 on diet, physical activity, tobacco and alcohol use, obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia and diabetes, of South African middle-aged adults. Another recent initiative within the mid-life age group has been the co-production of contextually relevant information resources about the menopause for women in Zimbabwe and South Africa. This incorporated the views and experiences of midlife women from one of the unit’s studies, together with stakeholders working in the area as well as colleagues at the University of Bristol in the UK and the Biomedical Research and Training Institute (BRTI) in Zimbabwe. This has now been translated in English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Tsonga and Setswana, and will be distributed widely to clinics and available through the South African Menopause Society.

Professor Micklesfield is a member of the SOCM Graduate Studies and Research Committee, and has successfully contributed to the graduation of postgraduate students through supervision and mentorship, and holds an NRF C2 rating (2016-2021).

Prof. Micklesfield has significantly impacted her field by being the first researcher to successfully develop and implement the measurement of infant physical activity through accelerometer devices, and working with colleagues at the University of Cambridge to determine unique ways of analyzing and interpreting the data. She has also been instrumental in contributing to our understanding factors associated with obesity in South African women. Community engagement is a critical part of Lisa’s impact strategy and she has successfully implemented multiple co-created research workshops and dissemination activities.

We congratulate Professor Micklesfield on her promotion to Research Professor