Witsies Appointed to National Orders Advisory Council

President Ramaphosa appointed new members of the National Orders Advisory Council, who will process nominations for future National Orders recipients Among them are the Faculty of Health Sciences alumni Professor Glenda Gray (MBBCh 1986) and Dr Stavros Nicolaou (BPharm 1986, DSc honoris causa 2019

Dr Stavros Nicolaou is an influential player in the international pharmaceutical industry. He leads the Aspen Pharmacare Group which has a wide geographical and continent presence He serves on several industry and business structures He received the Order of the Lion of St Mark from the Greek Orthodox Pope and Patriarch, Theodoros II

Professor Grey is an acclaimed research professor and co- founder of the Perinatal HIV Research Unit at Wits University. She was also awarded the prestigious Order of Mapungubwe - a recognition of South Africans whose achievements not only has an international impact but is also of service to country

Congratulations!

Explore a memoir by a Witsie, Dr Saul Nathanson (MBBCh 1966) wherein he documents his contributions to the world of sentinel node biopsy

He writes about how surgical technique of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) has radically transformed the management of breast cancer and melanoma. “It all started in my lab in Detroit in the 1980’s using a mouse model of melanoma Ten years later the techniques were investigated in melanoma patients and twenty years later the standard surgical treatment of breast cancer patients changed,” says Dr Nathanson The technique of SLNB later came to change the experience of the surgery for millions of patients, doctors, and saved billions of dollars in health costs worldwide.

Nathanson is a leading expert on sentinel lymph node biopsy and the causes of lymph node metastases He is also a published author of three other books: ‘Ordinary miracles,’ an evaluation of the feelings and emotions of my breast cancer patients ‘Surviving arrogance,’ a memoir about my experiences as a surgeon ‘Cancer metastasis through the lymphovascular system,’ an 806 page textbook edited by me with two colleagues and now used by medical students, scientists and physicians all over the world