Professor Gerhard Walzl

Professor Gerhard Walzl is a clinician scientist, trained in internal medicine, pulmonology and immunology. His research focus is on host biomarkers, including diagnostic markers and markers of TB treatment response and of protective immunity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). He established and leads the Immunology Research Group at Stellenbosch University. In 2016 he was appointed as the Head of the Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics and the Executive Head of the Department of Biomedical Sciences. He is also a Distinguished Professor of Immunology. Prof Walzl holds two patents and is awaiting approval for four more. He has supervised more than 30 postgraduate students to date. His research outputs over the last eight years include five artefacts, one prototype, three book chapters, and 156 peer-reviewed journal articles. He has led several multinational and multidisciplinary research projects on TB. In 2021, he was awarded the South African Medical Research Council Gold Medal for Outstanding Lifetime Scientific Contributions to Health Research.