Speakers and mentors

Christiaan (Tiaan) de Jager is Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Professor in Environmental Health, Extraordinary Lecturer in Andrology, and Director of the University of Pretoria Institute for Sustainable Malaria Control (UP ISMC) at the University of Pretoria (UP), South Africa. He has a PhD in Reproductive Biology and completed an international post-doctoral study at the Centre for Reproductive Biology Research, University Laval, Canada, where he managed an epidemiological study in Chiapas, Mexico.

Tiaan’s research foci are on endocrine disrupting chemicals, reproductive toxicology, public health, and environmental health with a special interest in malaria. He is established in his field as an internationally recognised researcher, has research collaborations on multi-institutional and transdisciplinary level, and is often approached for his expert opinion on health effects of DDT. His research impacts on policy at national and international levels, and notably he serves on the South African Malaria Elimination Committee (SAMEC). The World Health Organization (WHO) responded positively to his research findings by re-evaluating some of the methods used for malaria control and at national level he is involved in setting water quality guidelines in South Africa

Tiaan is committed towards better health and patient care for all and this is clearly demonstrated by his involvement in malaria outreach programmes and community engagement.

Cyril is originally trained as an applied physicist & climatologist. He obtained his PhD about climate variability in Sub-Saharan Africa at CERFACS and at the Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse in 2006. In early 2008, he moved to the University of Liverpool to study the impact of climate change on the risk posed by important vector-borne diseases, such as malaria, dengue, Zika, Rift Valley Fever, plague, bluetongue, fascioliasis and haemonchosis. His work focuses on the impact of climate change on health and has been cited by important governmental agencies (IPCC, PHE, World Bank…) and by mainstream media at global scale.

Megan Riddin is a Senior Researcher and Vector Cluster Chairperson in the University of Pretoria Institute for Sustainable Malaria Control (UP ISMC).

Her research focuses primarily on vector epidemiology and control of mosquito-borne disease, particularly malaria. Her current projects focus on malaria and One Health in the Limpopo River Basin, a malaria endemic region with pernicious transmission, in addition to known arboviral detection in humans, animals and vectors. Her research objectives involve transdisciplinary approaches, with inclusion of ecology, entomology, climatology, public health, parasitology and virology, for disease investigation. The outcomes of such research are aimed to contribute control efforts and programmes, and influence and inform policy in South Africa, and internationally.

Currently Megan works in the Vhembe District of Limpopo Province, South Africa, and Gaza Province, Mozambique, to identify primary, secondary and novel mosquito disease vectors, and to determine factors driving malaria persistence and transmission, while identifying differential diagnosis and public health in terms of mosquito-borne disease through entomological surveillance.