Sharon Fonn

Sharon Fonn is Professor and Head of the School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand which she has led since 2003. She is a medical doctor, and registered public health specialist and holds a PhD. For a decade prior she served as research director of the university’s Women’s Health Project. Previously Prof Fonn set up ‘Birth-to-Ten’ (now Twenty), a unique birth cohort following over 3000 children in Soweto South Africa. Prior to that she served the newly developed trade union movement providing health and safety training and research; and is an experienced manager-innovator of rural and urban public health services. Her work on cervical cancer and a national cancer control programme for South Africa is well-recognised.   Prof Fonn was awarded the Ministry of Science and Technology’s Distinguished Scientist Award for contributions to the quality of life of women (2005), has been a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa since 2004 and is a Woodrow Wilson Centre Scholar.   She serves on several national and international boards, is involved in international and United Nations initiatives, contributes research leadership and support, and is widely published in the fields of women’s health, gender and health and health systems development. Much of her work has resulted in policy development which has been adopted nationally and has influenced international discourse. 

She was the first woman invited to deliver the annual T N Krishnan Memorial Lecture at the Sree Chtira Institute in Kerala India. Prof Fonn has served as advisor to the South African Dept of Health and the Department of Science of Technology and is a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council. She has been a reviewer for the European Commission Framework programmes, the US NIH and the WHO.   Over the past two decades she has received several grants that have enabled her to address public health training and research, including institution strengthening, in South Africa and regionally. She has significant achievements in curriculum development which has lead to the publication of numerous training curriculums for various audiences including university students, health NGOs and for community members. Two of these have been published by the World Health Organisation. This has also resulted in academic articles reflecting on the impact and methods of training. She has been invited to teach and develop curriculum in a number of countries including India and for the World Bank.  Sharon has over 50 publications in peer reviewed journals, books and book chapters, and has published more than 20 technical reports, lay educational publications, published curriculum for training in health.