Senjuti Saha: advocate for equity in global health research

With diagnostic and sequencing capabilities, Saha and her co-workers at CHRF have studied the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on newborns and children and started a longitudinal study of vaccination on outcomes such as re-infection. [...]in 2022 Saha and her colleagues launched a programme at CHRF called Building Scientists for Bangladesh. In 2018, she collaborated with molecular biologist Joseph DeRisi at the University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA, and the non-profit CZ Biohub, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for cerebral spinal fluid samples from Bangladeshi children with meningitis to be sequenced.

Ntobeko Ntusi: valuing a culture of inclusivity and reciprocity

Before our interview, Ntobeko Ntusi, Chair and Head of the Department of Medicine at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and Groote Schuur Hospital, South Africa, had been doing a bedside tutorial with students. South Africa's energy crisis has led to a rolling programme of blackouts and meant that "White affluent individuals are able to purchase additional energy generating capacity, so that they are relatively shielded from the impact of these blackouts”, but Black communities face "the absence of electricity for Black children to study at home, the decreased ability for people to use medical equipment at home, and the over-reliance on biofuels to cook, boil water, or keep the house warm, which increases their risk of tuberculosis, chest infections, cardiovascular disease”, he says. Sumaya Mall, Associate Professor in the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Wits University, and a collaborator of Ntusi's, says he is "deeply engaged in discussions about race and racism in South African universities” and "well placed to empathise with staff and students who may feel alienated given his own historical experiences in South Africa and abroad”.