Institutional Leadership and professional leadership 2023

Programme Coordinator, Online Masters in Pharmacy Administration and Policy Regulation

The scope of my responsibilities Programme Coordinator of Online Masters in Pharmacy Administration and Policy Regulation has increased since my last promotion. 

The School of Pharmacy, University of the Western Cape have been running this online Master's programme in medicine regulatory sciences for the past 13 years. My involvement has significantly increased the impact of the programme. The number of student recruited has increased and the reach of the programme continues to increase beyond the South Africa and SADC region. Notably, the programme has trained over 30 personnel from National Regulatory Authorities (NRA) across Africa including countries like South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Lesotho, Namibia etc.

In addition, we have commenced a postgraduate diploma in Medicine Regulatory Sciences that equips participants with the skills needed to play a significant role in the development, manufacture, quality assurance, licensing and ongoing pharmacovigilance of medicines and medical devices.

Most recently, in line with the Africa CDC’s vision for talent development for local medicines and vaccine manufacturing to achieve sustainability of medicine supply in Africa, I co-led a collaborative institutional engagement between the School of Pharmacy, UWC and Technological University Dublin, Ireland to jointly design a new collaborative Biopharmaceutical and Vaccine Manufacturing Course. We also reviewed our current postgraduate Regulatory Sciences programmes to align with the changing landscape of medicines regulation. This collaboration has led to the signing of a MOU between the two institutions and will strategically position its capacity development programmes for private local pharmaceutical and medical devices manufacturing companies and National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) in Africa.

My professional leadership has been demonstrated and evidenced in the past year by my nomination and appointment as a member of the “talent development committee” of the  Partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The committee successfully developed “A vaccine research and manufacture Competency Framework” for the Africa CDC.

Secondly, I was recently nominated by the Southern African Regional Universities Association, on behalf of the SADC secretariat, to chair a working group that will “Develop a Curriculum Structure and Outline for a SADC Industrial Pharmacy Fellowship Programme” funded by Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

As proof of my professional leadership in my field of research, I continue to receive invitations to review many manuscripts for publication and examine Masters and PhD theses within South Africa, in Africa and globally.  

I am representing UWC in an initiative to form a consortium of Sothern Africa intitutions to be a Regional Capability and Capacity Networks (RCCNs) to support the development and establishment of sustainable workforce in vaccine research and development.

Institutional Leadership

Programme Coordinator, Online Masters in Pharmacy Administration and Policy Regulation

The University of the Western Cape (UWC) in collaboration with the University of Hibernia successfully designed and launched the M.Sc. Pharmacy Administration and Policy Regulation in April 2012. The programme is currently being implemented in collaboration with Faculty of Capacity Development (FCD). This document provides a brief overview of the programme. This programme is offered by the School of Pharmacy, University of the Western Cape as an additional qualification to professionals interested in the regulation and registration of health products in the pharmaceutical and related industries. It is a 24 months part-time course delivered online in an 18-month cycle of taught modules followed by a six months period allocated for a mini-thesis research project. I am responsible for and coordinate the admission process, the 18-onth online taught module sessions and the final mini-thesis. We, in conjunction with the dedicated administrator assistant and the school of pharmacy postgraduate office, have successfully designed a seamless admission, teaching and project execution pipeline that allows student to complete this course in the stipulated 24 months and fast track students that were previously stuck in the system.  

Chairman Equipment Committee 2019-2021, School of Pharmacy UWC

I served as the chairman of the Research equipment committee at the School of Pharmacy (SOP), UWC. During my tenure we designed a system to ensure smooth running of the SOP central analytical laboratory, secured significant CAPEX funds to acquired vital equipment for SOP.  

Organization of seminars, workshops, conferences and other forms of professional engagement