Research Entities

The Faculty of Health Sciences supports research entities at the following levels:

• Programme
• Group
• Unit
• Thrust

Each entity is based in one of the Schools of the Faculty of Health Sciences and has a Director or Leader.

The research entities currently recognized by the Faculty of Health Sciences include:

Programmes

• Birth to Twenty Research Programme – School of Clinical Medicine: Paediatrics (Professor J.M. Pettifor)

• Embryonic Differentiation and Development Research Programme – School of Anatomical Sciences (Professor B. Kramer)

• Hepatitis Virus Diversity Research Programme – School of Clinical Medicine: Internal Medicine (Professor A. Kramvis)

Groups

• The Brain Function Research Group– School of Physiology (Professor A. Fuller)
  • The Wits Dial-a-Bed Sleep Research Laboratory is a division of the Brain Function Research Group

• Health Policy Research Group/Unit– School of Public Health; NHLS (Dr D. Blaauw)

Units

• Antiviral Gene Therapy Research Unit – School of Pathology (Professor P.B. Arbuthnot)

• Bone Research Laboratory [Bone Research Unit] – School of Clinical Medicine: Surgery (Professor U. Ripamonti)

• Cancer Epidemiology Research Unit – School of Pathology (Acting Director)
  
  
• Carbohydrate and Lipid Metabolism Research Unit – School of Clinical Medicine: Internal Medicine (Professor F. Raal)

• Cardiovascular Pathophysiology and Genomic Research Unit – School of Physiology (Professor G. Norton)

• Clinical HIV Research Unit – School of Clinical Medicine : Internal Medicine; Wits Health Consortium (Professor I. Sanne) 

• Effective Care Research Unit – School of Clinical Medicine: Obstetrics and Gynaecology
  
  
• Human Genomic Diversity and Disease Research Unit – School of Pathology: Human Genetics (Professor H. Soodyall)

• Mineral Metabolism Research Unit – School of Clinical Medicine: Paediatrics (Professor J. Pettifor)

• Molecular Mycobacteriology Research Unit – School of Pathology ( Professor Val Mizrahi)

• Perinatal HIV Research Unit – School of Clinical Medicine: Paediatrics; Wits Health Consortium (Professors G. Gray and J. McIntyre)

• Pulmonary Research Unit – School of Clinical Medicine (Professor C. Feldman)

• Reproductive Health Research Unit – School of Clinical Medicine: Obstetrics and Gynaecology; Wits Health Consortium (Professor H. Rees)

• Respiratory and Meningeal Pathogens Research Unit – School of Pathology; NICD (Professor K. Klugman and Professor S. Madhi)
  
  
• Rural Health in Transition Research Unit – School of Public Health (Professor S. Tollman) 

• Soweto Cardiovascular Research Unit – School of Clinical Medicine (Professor K. Sliwa)

Thrusts

• Molecular Biosciences Research Thrust - Faculties of Science and Health Sciences (Professors C. Rey and M. Ramsay)

• Diseases of Lifestyle– Faculty of Health Sciences (Professors K. Sliwa and N. Crowther)

NRF Chairs:

In addition to the Research Entities, the Faculty also has three NRF Research Chairs:

Professor Maureen Coetzee (Malaria; School of Pathology)
Professor Shabir Madhi (Vaccine Preventable Diseases: School of Clinical Medicine)
Professor Viness Pillay (Pharmaceutical Biomaterials; School of Therapeutic Sciences)