Prof Alex van den Heever (MA economics from the University of Cape Town) holds the Chair of Social Security Systems Administration and Management Studies at the Wits School of Governance.

Email: alex.vandenheever@wits.ac.za
(https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alex-Van-Den-Heever).

He has worked in the areas of health economics, public finance, governance and social security since 1989. His work largely focuses on strategic policy research for social security and health systems. Professionally He has worked for the Department of Finance (which now forms part of National Treasury), the Industrial Development Corporation, the Centre for Health Policy (WITS), the Gauteng Department of Health, Deloitte & Touche and the Council for Medical Schemes.

He has also formed part of various inquiries in the fields of health and social security including the Malamet Commission on Medical Schemes, the Taylor Committee of Inquiry into Comprehensive Social Security, the Ministerial Task team on Social Health Insurance, the Health Market Inquiry. He has also chaired two expert panel investigations into a basic income support grant for South Africa supported by the International Labour Office. He has also served on various official bodies, including the Council for Medical Schemes and the Medicines Pricing Committee.

Prof Melodie Labuschaigne

Professor Melodie Labuschaigne is Professor in Medical law and Ethics in the Department of Jurisprudence in the School of Law, University of South Africa. She is a former Director of the School of Law and Deputy Executive Dean of the College of Law at UNISA. She obtained the degrees BA, BA (Hons), MA and DLitt from the University of Pretoria, and the degrees LLB and LLD (in medical law) from the University of South Africa.

She has published extensively on medico-legal issues; the legal regulation of stem cell research and human tissue, genomic and genetic research, assisted reproduction and the National Health Insurance Bill, in local and international journals and has presented many local and international conference papers. She is a recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research from the University of SA, the Women in Research Leadership Award, and the Hugo de Groot Prize. She has been involved with the revision and drafting of health legislation for many years and is regularly approached to provide legal opinions on legal issues relating to medical law and ethics.

During 2016-2018 she served on the Academy of Sciences of South Africa consensus panel on Human genetics and genomics in South Africa. She serves on several boards and is currently the legal member on the National Health Research Ethics Council, the chairperson of the Complaints and Queries sub-committee of the NHREC, and a member of the Bioethics Advisory Panel of the SAMRC. She chairs of the Genomics working group of the BAP of the SAMRC and serves on the research ethics committee of Ampath Laboratories. She is also the President-Elect of the South Africa Tissue Bank Association (SATiBA).

Professor A. Dhai: PhD, MBChB, FCOG, LLM, PGDip-IntResEthics, MASSAf

Professor Ames Dhai is Founder and Past Director of the Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics at the Wits Faculty of Health Sciences (2007 – 2019), Professor of Bioethics and Health Law at the Wits School of Clinical Medicine and member of the Academy of Science South Africa (ASSAf).

She is immediate past Chairperson of the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee. Some of her current activities include: Chairperson of the SAMRC Bioethics Advisory Panel; Chair of the Human Sciences Research Council Research Ethics Committee, Chair of the South African National Blood Services Research Ethics Committee, Chair of the ASSAf Biosafety and Biosecurity Committee; Vice Chair of the Board of the SA Medical Association; member on several consensus panels of the ASSAf, including the ASSAf Panel on Gene Therapies and Gene Editing ELSI; member of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Unrelated Organ Transplants and member of the Advisory Committee to the SA Law Commission Project on Medical Litigation. Her past roles include: Vice-Chair on the Ministerial Advisory Committee for COVID-19 Vaccines where she headed the Technical Working Group on Mandatory Vaccinations; two terms as Deputy Chair of the National Health Research Ethics Council and member of the Board of the Health Professions Council of SA.

She has served as consultant and contributor towards international policy on organisations including the World Medical Association, the World Health Organisation and UNESCO. She is Editor-in-chief of the South African Journal of Bioethics and Law and Acting Editor of the South African Medical Journal. She is a mediator with international accreditation through the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution, UK. Professor Dhai is a leading authority in Bioethics both internationally and locally, and can be credited with entrenching bioethics and human rights as an integral aspect of health sciences in SA. Using an academic platform, Professor Dhai has taken a lead in health advocacy and activism. She has published extensively and has authored several books in this field. Professor Dhai graduated as a medical doctor and specialised as an obstetrician and gynaecologist at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She thereafter moved into the disciplines of bioethics and health law.

Professor Roseanne Harris
BScHons FIA CFP® FASSA

Roseanne is Health Policy Actuary and head of Policy and Regulatory Affairs at Discovery Health. She is also an adjunct professor in the School of Statistics and Actuarial Science at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). She is a past president of the International Actuarial Association and of the Actuarial Society of South Africa.

Roseanne has 30 years of experience in the South African health care and employee benefits field. Her current role involves industry engagement at a high level including with regulators, government, civil associations, industry bodies and supranationals. She has participated in the Nedlac engagements on National Health Insurance (NHI) as well as presenting evidence and analysis to the Health Market Inquiry (HMI) of the Competition Commission.

She was been a member of the B4SA funding workstream working on the vaccine roll out programme in 2021/22 and a member of the Covid-19 working group of the Actuarial Society of South Africa. Roseanne is project lead of the BUSA/B4SA project on NHL Roseanne is a regular presenter at industry events and has published papers on topics including health financing, disease management, social security and ethical decision making.

Dr Yvonne Holt is the Chief Medical Officer at Next Biosciences, a South African biotech company involved in cryopreservation of stem cells and human tissues, production of human biological products and genetic testing. Dr Holt graduated from Wits University as a medical doctor and has a diploma in Paediatrics and Transfusion Medicine.

Dr Holt joined Next Biosciences 19 years ago when it was founded and has worked with the various teams in the company to combine medicine, science and technology to create innovative products and services that empower people to invest and take personal ownership in their future health.

Hans obtained his BSc (1985), BSc Honn (1988), MMedSc cum laude (2008) and PhD in Cardiothoracic Surgery in 2020 at UFS. He also completed an Advanced Course in Tissue Banking Management in 2011 from the University of Barcelona and is currently the manager and Assistant Director of the homograft bank in the department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the UFS.

He is a registered Medical Biological Scientist with the HPCSA, the retrieval officer (musculoskeletal, corneas & skin) in central SA for the Centre for Tissue Engineering at Tshwane University, and national representative for heart valve banking at the SA Tissue Banking Association (SATIBA).
He is author and co-author of several articles in peer-reviewed journals and has presented his research findings at numerous local and international congresses. Tissue banking and the urge to help patients in need with replacement implants is his passion.

Karin is the Medical Director of the South African National Blood Service, serves on the Board of the South African Bone Marrow Registry, is a co-opted Board member of SATiBA and an affiliated lecturer at the University of the Free State.

She is on the steering committee of the Global Transfusion Forum, co-author of the Model Framework for Global Transfusion Medicine Education and member of several of the International Society for Blood Transfusion, Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies as well as the World Health Organisation Working Parties.

Her main research focus area is the intersection of the HIV epidemic and blood donation in South Africa, which is also the focus of her recently completed PhD.