Professor Mosa Moshabela Appointed Vice-Chancellor at UCT

The Chairman of the Board of the National Research Foundation (NRF), Professor Mosa Moshabela, has been appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, effective from 01 October 2024.

Prof Moshabela is an executive member at the University of KwaZulu-Natal where he holds the role of Professor of Public Health and Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation. He has an extensive track record as both an academic and a clinician, having led the Quality Health Systems and Transformation (QuEST) Centre in South Africa, a collaboration with the TH Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University, and held the position of faculty member in HIV, Infectious Disease and Global Health Research Institute (HIGH IRI) at the University of Washington in the USA.

His research has focused mainly on TB and HIV and in the areas of health systems, services, and policy research, particularly access, equity and quality in poorer regions of sub-Saharan Africa.

Prof Moshabela holds a MBChB from UKZN; a MMed in Family Medicine from MEDUNSA (now the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University); MSc in Demography and Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; and PhD in Public Health from the University of the Witwatersrand.

He held a Wellcome Trust Fellowship and was awarded a Ministerial Special Covid-19 Award for Covid-19 Science Communication and Public Engagement. He is currently the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Health in the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), and Chairperson of the committee to evaluate the Covid-19 health sector response in SA, commissioned by the National Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation. In addition, Prof Moshabela serves as  the Health Commissioner to the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal.

He is also a member of the international advisory board of the Lancet Healthy Longevity, Lancet Commission on Synergies Between Health Promotion, Universal Healthcare Access and Global Health Security, and the Commission of the US National Academies for Science, Engineering and Medicine on the Global Roadmap to Healthy Longevity.

Speaking on behalf of staff and stakeholders, Dr Fulufhelo Nelwamondo, CEO of the NRF, congratulated Professor Moshabela on his new appointment.  “This is a vote of confidence in an outstanding South African whose research and work has made considerable impact for the betterment of society. We look forward to our continuing partnership with UCT under his guidance as well as his ongoing stewardship of the NRF as our current Chairperson.”