Dr Sabelile Tenza is a renowned patient safety expert and a researcher in quality and safety in healthcare in the NuMIQ research entity at the North-West University (NWU). She is a distinguished academic and healthcare professional in the field of Public Health, focusing on Health Systems and Policy. She completed her PhD in Public Health at the University of the Witwatersrand, and her patient safety and Quality Improvement specialist certification from the International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQua).

I am, a dedicated midwife specialist, lecturer, and researcher with a strong passion for perinatal support for women and midwives. My expertise lies in compassionate midwifery, respectful maternity care, and evidence-based practice, and I am committed to advancing woman-centered care in maternal health services.

Professor Jessica Pool is the Director of the Centre for Health Professions Education (CHPE) in the Faculty of Health Sciences and an Associate Professor. She leads initiatives in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), fostering teaching-focused communities of practice, research-led teaching development, and knowledge sharing in university education.

Mariaan Wicks is a registered dietitian and a senior lecturer at in the Faculty of Health Sciences, Subject Group Nutrition at the North-West University, South Africa. Mariaan has a special interest in nutrition focussed interventions to combat obesity and non-communicable diseases, with a specific focus on nutrient profiling and food labelling.

Dr. Jansen van Vuren is a Senior Lecturer in Physiology and a researcher specializing in Cardiovascular Physiology and Biological Psychiatry. Her research explores the interplay between cardiovascular diseases and psychiatric disorders as comorbid conditions in African populations, exploring the underlying biopsychosocial mechanisms.

Anitia is an Associate Professor at North-West University’s Centre for Health Professions Education, where she focuses on assessment, feedback, and self-directed learning in health professions education. With a strong background in education and a research trajectory spanning over a decade, her work explores how assessment and feedback practices can support student learning and professional development.

Julia Blitz is a registered Family Physician who has a PhD in Health Professions Education (HPE) from Stellenbosch University. While now retired from full-time work, she continues to work with some South African medical schools (including NWU) as they develop or renew their medical programmes.

She was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of General Practitioners (UK) in recognition of her “major contribution internationally to both undergraduate education and postgraduate training in the context of Family Medicine”.

I served as a Family Medicine specialist in the public health sector, translating to a senior health system leader for 30 years. The last 5 years I served as Head of Health for the Western Cape, accountable for all health services, resources and performance. Included in the responsibilities was to manage the relationship and interface between the Health Department and 4 Western Cape HEIs (UCT, UWC, CPUT, SU). During the HOD tenure I was recognized as the best performing Head of Department across all departments, also achieving the first clean audit for any health department at the time.

Dr Xander Flemming is a lecturer and researcher at the Africa Unit for Transdisciplinary Health Research (AUTHeR). After obtaining a master’s degree in counselling psychology, he gained over 12 years of experience in community settings. He managed and implemented mental health and psycho-social well-being programs and sexual health and HIV/STI prevention programs for marginalised groups in resource-limited settings in South Africa. He has worked at a national level and across various sectors, including public health, health promotion, the NGO/CBO sector and corporate social investment.

During the period 2009-2013 I was head of the biostatistics Unit and responsible for clinical epidemiology in two main research hospital in Milan (Italy). Afterwards, during the period the period 2013-2015, I joined the department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine of the University of Regensburg (Germany). In 2015-2016 I joined the Nutritional Methodology and Biostatistics Group at the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization in Lyon (France).