Professor Mark Fredric Cotton

Specialising in paediatric infectious diseases, Professor Mark Cotton’s research has covered a wide range of areas, starting with hospital-acquired infection in general paediatric wards, but focussing on HIV and TB in children since 1996. Prof Cotton obtained his undergraduate degree in Medicine from the University of Cape Town; Master’s from the University of the Witwatersrand; and PhD in Immunology from Stellenbosch University. He interned at Groote Schuur Hospital and completed his postgraduate paediatrics training at various South African health facilities. After a Fellowship in Paediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Colorado, he returned to South Africa to establish the Children’s Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Unit (KIDCRU). He is an Emeritus Professor at SU and advises WHO on HIV in children. He has published/co-published more than 390 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine. He served on various editorial boards and was president of the World Society of Paediatric Infectious Diseases between 2019 and 2022. He now chairs its Education Committee.