Invited plenary speakers

Professor David Bates is Professor of Oncology at the University of Nottingham Centre for Cancer Sciences, and Professor Extraordinaire at the University of Pretoria Pan African Cancer Research Institute. He is the founder of three spin-out companies. Exonate Ltd has developed an eye drop for treatment of diabetic retinopathy. IsomAb Ltd is developing VEGF isoform-specific antibodies for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, and Emenda Therapeutics is developing splicing factor kinase inhibitors for arthritis, pain and other conditions. His academic research investigates regulation of alternative splicing and anti-angiogenic and immune approaches to cancer. He has discovered how angiogenic factors contribute to cancer, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, nephropathy and neuropathy, lung and heart disease and other conditions, and identified splicing factor kinases as key regulators of cancer and other diseases. At Nottingham he led the development, funding and establishment of the University of Nottingham Centre for Cancer Sciences, bringing together cancer academic groups from epidemiology to molecular genetics. His collaborations include cholangiocarcinoma research in Thailand and Laos and colorectal and other cancers at the University of Pretoria. He has served on a South African MRC Scientific Advisory Board and held leadership roles at the University of Nottingham. He has also been a Non-Executive Director of Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and is a backcountry ski guide for the Austrian Alpine Club.

Fredrik Bengtsson is an Associate Professor of Neurophysiology and Senior Lecturer in Physiology at Lund University, Sweden. His research is rooted in integrative neurophysiology and focuses on how sensory information is represented and processed across the nervous system, from spinal neuronal circuits to thalamic and neocortical networks. Using in vivo neurophysiological approaches ranging from intracellular recordings of individual neurons to multichannel electrocorticography, his work examines sensory integration, neuronal connectivity, distributed representations and cortical network dynamics. A central theme of his research is how sensory information from the skin is encoded, transformed and decoded as it travels through successive levels of the central nervous system, and how these processes emerge from interactions within distributed neuronal networks. In parallel with his research, he holds leadership positions in medical education and is engaged in the development of global health education and international academic collaborations at the Faculty of Medicine, Lund University.

Dr Jean-Luc Coll is a biologist with extensive experience in oncology. His work combines fluorescence imaging, nanotechnology, chemistry and large-scale physics instrumentation to develop theranostic nanoparticles for the treatment of tumours and their metastases. His team focuses particularly on near-infrared-labelled nanoparticles that can target tumours, guide cancer surgery and enhance radiotherapy, phototherapy and other innovative therapeutic approaches. Alongside the development of these nanovectors, he contributes to the design of adapted medical devices for translational and clinical applications.

Nicki de Villiers is a registered dietitian with more than 20 years of experience in clinical and sports nutrition, with a particular interest in translating sports-nutrition science into practical strategies for athletes. She holds a Master's degree in Dietetics from the University of Pretoria, a Postgraduate Diploma in Sports Nutrition from the International Olympic Committee and a Higher Certificate in Exercise Science. Nicki combines private practice with university teaching and has extensive experience working with athletes across recreational, elite and professional sport, including Olympic athletes, endurance athletes and professional football teams. A former South African national basketball player and captain, she brings both scientific and athlete perspectives to her work in performance nutrition.

Prof Liesel Ebersöhn is Director of the Centre for the Study of Resilience and a Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Pretoria. She is a registered educational psychologist, an expert on social dimensions of resilience and President of the World Education Research Association. Her Relationship-Resourced Resilience theory draws on Sub-Saharan African evidence to describe social-resilience responses to chronic adversity. She adds to resilience knowledge by positing “flocking” as an alternative response to adversity in conditions of collective distress. The theory is used by the Ukraine Cabinet of Ministers' Coordination Centre for Mental Health, in psychosocial support training across 13 Sub-Saharan African countries, and in doctoral and policy education internationally. She has published more than 130 peer-reviewed articles as well as books and book chapters, and has supervised more than 100 postgraduate students to completion.

Anna-Mart Engelbrecht is Professor of Physiological Sciences at Stellenbosch University, where she leads multidisciplinary cancer research. She founded the Cancer Research Group, focusing on chemoresistance, cancer metabolism, early-detection biomarkers, phytopharmaceuticals and precision medicine aimed at affordable solutions for African healthcare. A strong advocate for innovation, she co-founded two university spin-outs, Phyenti and Biocode, and established two interdisciplinary undergraduate programmes linking physiology with mathematical sciences and with chemistry, patent law and botany. Her honours include the Marie Curie Scholarship and institutional awards for research excellence. She previously served on the Governing Boards of the African Cancer Institute and the Institute for Sport and Exercise Medicine and currently serves on the Board and Management Committee of the Institute for Biomedical Engineering. With more than 110 peer-reviewed publications and numerous invited talks, she has supervised 60 Master's and PhD students. As a long-standing PSSA contributor, she also served as Vice President and Secretary.

Dr Jurita Engelbrecht is a registered psychologist, BCIA-certified Neurofeedback Therapist and Certified TRE® Provider with over two decades of experience in Educational Psychology. Her expertise encompasses psychological assessments, trauma counselling, neurofeedback, substance-abuse therapy and mediation. She is an accredited mediator listed by the Minister of Justice and currently serves as a board member of the Biofeedback Association of South Africa. Dr Engelbrecht has served as an external examiner and expert panel member for dissertations, and has presented at workshops, radio talks and conferences. She is a member of the International Society for Neuroregulation & Research and the Biofeedback Association of South Africa.

Prof Chrisna Gouws is a Research Professor in the Centre of Excellence for Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Desmond Tutu School of Medicine at North-West University, where she leads the strategic project for Human-Based New Approach Methodologies for Biomedical Research. She holds a PhD in Biochemistry and has more than 20 years' experience using cell-culture models for human health and disease research. Her group develops complex three-dimensional cell models using rotating bioreactors, bioprinting, multi-layer Transwell models and iPSC-based organoid cultures. Prof Gouws is the founder and Executive Committee Chair of the Society for Advanced Cell Culture Modelling for Africa, Europe/Africa Regional Chapter co-chair and board member of the International Microphysiological Systems Society, and co-editor of the NAM Journal.

Dr Abe Kasonga is an NRF Y-rated researcher and senior lecturer in the Department of Physiology at the University of Pretoria. He is involved in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and is passionate about sharing his knowledge with the next generation of researchers and healthcare professionals. His research primarily focuses on bone physiology and the development of potential natural therapies to treat bone degeneration in metabolic disorders. He also has research interests in postmenopausal osteoporosis and bone metastasis. He has presented at numerous international conferences, including the European Calcified Tissue Society and the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids. His research is driven by the broader goal of understanding the physiological processes that maintain bone health and how disruption of these processes can lead to bone disease.

Andrew Makanya is a Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology in the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and Physiology at the University of Nairobi. With over three decades of experience in higher education and research, he has made significant contributions to the study of angiogenesis, vertebrate lung structure, development and function, as well as stereology and morphometry. He trained as a veterinary surgeon at the University of Nairobi, where he also completed an MSc, and later earned doctorates in cell and developmental biology from the University of Bern and mammalian lung development from the University of Nairobi. He has been a visiting lecturer at the University of Fribourg, a visiting senior researcher at the University of Bern and a visiting professor at the University of Johannesburg. His current research interests include resolving controversies in avian lung structure, establishing novel research models for cancer pathogenesis and drug testing, and understanding formation of the vertebrate blood-gas barrier, particularly in relation to neonatal respiratory distress syndrome.

Prof Muzi Maseko completed his undergraduate and postgraduate training in physiology before joining the University of the Witwatersrand. He later worked in the Hypertension Department at the University of Leuven on the European Project on Genes in Hypertension and, on returning to South Africa, coordinated the African Project on Genes in Hypertension. He established the Human Nutrition Research Laboratory, focusing on dietary intervention strategies for reducing the non-communicable disease burden in historically disadvantaged communities, and led the South African Hypertension and Diet Study in Soweto. His leadership roles have included Head of the Human Nutrition Research Laboratory, Head of Research in the Department of Physiology, Head of the Nutrition and Metabolism Research Theme and President of the Physiological Society of Southern Africa.

Joji Mercier is a professor in the Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, University of Pretoria, and a medical doctor and biomedical scientist. After obtaining her MBChB, she worked in emergency, pre-hospital aviation and rural medicine before returning to academia. She subsequently completed an MSc in Physiology and a PhD focused on cancer drug discovery. Her research programme centres on the development and mechanistic evaluation of novel anticancer agents, particularly compounds targeting cytoskeletal processes, and on strategies to enhance tumour radiosensitivity. A central focus is overcoming intrinsic and acquired treatment resistance while limiting toxicity to normal tissues. Her work integrates cancer cell biology, pharmacology and radiation biology to identify therapeutic approaches that improve treatment efficacy and the therapeutic window.

Dr Nobalanda Mokoena holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of the Free State and is a Master in Business Leadership candidate at the University of South Africa. She is a Senior Researcher and Acting Chief Scientific Officer at Onderstepoort Biological Products, one of Africa's leading veterinary vaccine manufacturers. Her research focuses on veterinary vaccine innovation for critical livestock health challenges, including next-generation vaccine platforms targeting Bluetongue, African Horse Sickness, Lumpy Skin Disease and Rift Valley Fever. Her work integrates advanced vaccine technologies with translational strategies to strengthen animal-health biosecurity and agricultural sustainability. She collaborates with national and international research councils and higher-education institutions, supervises postgraduate students, and is a co-author of peer-reviewed publications, patents and product technology packages.

Professor Trevor Nyakudya is a Full Professor of Pre-clinical Medical Physiology in the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, at the University of Pretoria and a C2-rated researcher with the National Research Foundation. His research investigates the therapeutic potential of indigenous African medicinal plants and their bioactive phytochemicals as integrative interventions for metabolic disorders, including type 2 diabetes, obesity, insulin resistance, alcohol-induced metabolic dysfunction and metabolic bone disease. Using molecular, cellular, biochemical and whole-animal physiological approaches, his work examines how phytochemicals modulate oxidative stress, inflammation, insulin signalling and bone remodelling across the lifespan. He also contributes to physiology and health-professions education and serves on the Education Committee and African Mentorship Taskforce of the International Union of Physiological Sciences and as Treasurer of the Association of African Physiological Societies.

Llewellyn Padayachy is Professor and Head of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Pretoria and Chief Specialist and Paediatric Neurosurgeon at Steve Biko Academic Hospital. Professor Padayachy is internationally recognised for his expertise in minimally invasive surgical techniques and intra-operative monitoring modalities in paediatric brain-tumour and hydrocephalus surgery. He has pioneered techniques for the non-invasive diagnosis of raised intracranial pressure in children and has published extensively on these topics. He is the recipient of several prestigious scientific awards, is frequently invited to speak at national and international neurosurgery conferences, and serves as a reviewer for international medical journals and in executive roles in neurosurgery societies.

Michèle Ramsay is Professor of Human Genetics and Director of the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of the Witwatersrand. She holds the DSTI/NRF South African Research Chair in Bioinformatics and Genomics of African Populations. Her research focuses on genomic variation, population structure and gene–environment interactions in African populations, particularly in relation to cardiometabolic disease, obesity, rare genetic disorders and precision medicine. Her leadership roles in continental initiatives include H3Africa and the South African Human Genome Programme. She has served as President of the Southern African and African Societies of Human Genetics and the International Federation of Human Genetics Societies. She is committed to mentorship and building sustainable genomics research capacity across Africa.

Prof Iman van den Bout is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology at the University of Pretoria and leads the Integrated Translational Biology Group. He holds a PhD in Medical Biology from the University of Amsterdam and completed postdoctoral training at the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research in Manchester, where he developed expertise in integrin signalling and the molecular regulation of cell migration. His research centres the underserved Black South African patient population, which is disproportionately diagnosed with advanced and triple-negative breast cancer and remains underrepresented in global research. His group is establishing a patient-derived organoid biobank for pre-clinical drug-sensitivity testing and validating plasma cell-free DNA liquid biopsies for early breast-cancer detection.

Dr Marina van der Ryst is an HPCSA-registered neuropsychologist and educational psychologist and is also registered as an EEG technician. Her work over the past 15 years has focused on the clinical application of neuro- and physiological assessment and modulation, including neurofeedback and quantitative electroencephalography. She is a board-certified QEEG Licensed Diplomate and a BCIA Neurofeedback practitioner involved in mentoring. Her work uses brain-function assessment to inform differential diagnosis, treatment specificity and progress monitoring across mental-health and health services. She serves on the International qEEG Certification Board and the Biofeedback Association of South Africa and contributed to an international position paper in Clinical EEG and Neuroscience.

Albert van Schoor is a Professor in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Pretoria, where he has served since 2003. He holds BSc Honours, MSc and PhD degrees in Anatomy. His academic career spans undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, research supervision and clinical anatomy education, with interests in anatomy relevant to regional anaesthesia, vascular access, peripheral nerve procedures, paediatric and neonatal anatomy, and imaging-based research. He holds a C2 National Research Foundation rating and has produced more than 50 peer-reviewed publications. Professor van Schoor is a co-author of major clinical anatomy texts, including Abrahams & McMinn's Clinical Atlas of Human Anatomy, and a contributor to Gray's Anatomy.

Christiaan “Tiaan” Vermeulen is a PhD candidate in Anatomy at the University of Pretoria and Managing Director of Neuro-Link, a global consultancy specialising in neuroscience-informed human performance. He holds a master's degree in neurophysiology from the University of Pretoria and leads Neuro-Link's operations, research, assessments and learning-solutions product development. As an experienced facilitator and trainer, Tiaan works with individuals and teams to enhance learning, thinking, cognitive flexibility and workplace performance through the practical application of neuroscience. He is a published researcher and author as well as an international speaker who has presented on platforms such as the Association for Talent Development.

Prof Paola Wood is a Professor in the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, at the University of Pretoria, where she also serves as Academic Programme Coordinator for the Bachelor of Sports Science degree. She holds a DPhil in Human Movement Science and is a registered biokineticist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa. Her academic and research interests span exercise physiology, sport and exercise science, biokinetics, athlete health, sports injuries, physical activity and non-communicable disease risk. She has extensive experience in postgraduate supervision and examination and has authored or co-authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications.