Dr Gunvant Goolab, the former Principal Officer of the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS), has extensive executive experience, which is augmented by sound public and private healthcare understanding garnered over three decades.

Dr Goolab is a qualified medical practitioner, who graduated from the University of Witwatersrand in 1985 and later completed an MBA with the University of Cape Town. He commenced his career as an intern at the former Baragwanath Hospital (now Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital) in 1986 where he also occupied the position of Senior House Officer in the Department of Paediatrics.

In later years, Dr Goolab worked as a senior executive within the pharmaceutical industry. He was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AstraZeneca in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to occupying the position of CEO, Dr Goolab spent several years with Novartis South Africa and Sandoz Products.

Under the leadership of Dr Goolab, AstraZeneca was one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical companies in South Africa. During his tenure with the company, three flagship products (Nexium, Crestor and Symbicord) were launched, each featuring among the top twenty pharmaceutical brands in the country. Between 2008 and 2013, Dr Goolab was responsible for leading the expansion of AstraZeneca into Sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular focus on Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Angola.

Dr Goolab’s leadership and experience has been of considerable benefit within GEMS, South Africa’s largest closed medical scheme. During his tenure as Principal Officer from August 2013 until January 2020, GEMS financial, clinical and corporate governance was significantly strengthened. Further, GEMS has since been positioned as an integral role-player of driving transformation in the South African healthcare industry.

During the Covid pandemic from 2020 to 2021, Dr Goolab undertook the following significant pro-bono work:

• Doctors on Call Covid-19 Medical Volunteer
• Business for South Africa Phase 2 Vaccine Rollout – Service Delivery Stream Lead

Dr Goolab currently holds the following Non-Executive Director roles:

• Deputy Chairperson and Trustee of Thebemed Medical Aid Scheme
• Independent Non – Executive Director of Lenmed Investments (Lenmed Hospital Group)
• Non – Executive Director South African National Blood Service
• Deputy Chairperson of the Board of Healthcare Funders
• Director of Health Quality Assessments
• Director of Lunar Capital
• Director of HiGain Investments