Torrie Fields is Senior Manager, Advanced Illness & Palliative Care at Blue Shield of California. She leads the development and implementation of programmes and processes that support people with serious illness and their families. In addition, she is a director for the Center to Advance Palliative Care Quality Alignment Hub and is responsible for developing an accountability and measurement framework that will advance access to high-quality serious illness care across settings.
Prior to her current position, she worked as the Director of Palliative Care at Cambia Health Solutions and as a consultant for health plans, purchasers, and educational institutions to assist them in understanding the impact of palliative care on the medical system. She has developed highly successful palliative care initiatives including benefit design, case management, caregiver support, medical home development, and policy and engagement efforts. In addition, she has worked as an actuary and health services researcher in a variety of settings.
She holds a Master’s degree in Public Health from Oregon Health and Sciences University, a Certificate in Gerontology from Portland Community College, a Bachelor of Science degree in sociology from Portland State University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication theory from the University of California, San Diego.
Dr. Brenda Kubheka is a medical practitioner with special interest in ethics, risk management and digital health. She has worked in both private and public sectors in senior and executive management positions. She has taught Bioethics and Health Law. She holds an MBA from GIBS and a certificate in Clinical Bioethics from Harvard University, among others. She is a co-founder and MD of Health IQ Consulting, a principal in an emergency medical practice and a PhD student at the University of Witwatersrand’s School of Public Health.
She worked as a medical advisor at Medscheme providing support to hospital, pathology and forensic departments where she was later appointed to a role of a Senior Operations Manager before joining Mpumalanga Department of Health as a Chief Director overseeing Provincial Hospital Services, Emergency Medical Services, Pharmaceutical and other support services. She has consulted in various roles including external surveyor for COHSASA, Medical advisor at Thebe Ya Bophelo Healthcare Administrators and both an ethics officer and Chief Medical Officer for Clinix Health Group. She is a published scholar and has presented in both national and international conferences. She currently serves as a board member at Leratong Hospital and, is also a principal in the medical practice providing Accident and Emergency medical services. She is a co-founder and MD of Health IQ Consulting specializing in risk management in healthcare, ethics and medical law. She is a member of various organisations including SA Medicolegal Society, International Association of Bioethics, Society of Hospital Medicine, to name a few.
Victoria Barr is an economist and Senior Director at FTI Consulting. She is also one of the co-founders of Alignd, a multidisciplinary collaboration developing comprehensive financing solutions for medical aid schemes. Alignd’s solutions are designed to enable patient-centred and cost-effective healthcare.
She joined FTI Consulting in London in 2012 and transferred to South Africa in 2016, where she is developing FTI’s South African economic consulting practice. She has worked as an economic consultant since 2008 and her experience covers economic regulation, public policy, economic development and competition issues.
Since 2011, she has specialised in healthcare economics. Her work has focused on three main areas: healthcare financing, including pricing and contracting strategy; regulatory framework design; and economic and financial modelling, including cost-benefit analysis. Recent clients include the World Health Organization and the National Treasury of South Africa.
During a two-year secondment at Monitor, the healthcare sector regulator in England, she acted as Deputy Director of Pricing, implementing large-scale reform of the payment system for the National Health Service. She has also worked with healthcare providers and funders in England on a range of pricing and contracting issues.
Shivani Ranchod is a healthcare actuary and academic. She is the co-founder and CEO of Percept, a multidisciplinary consulting firm. She is also the co-founder of Alignd, an innovative provider of value-based contracting solutions.
She is the former Head of Actuarial Science at UCT, and is currently a senior lecturer. She is also a long-term advisor to the Government Technical Advisory Centre. She has consulted to medical schemes, administrators, managed care organisations and healthcare providers, including hospitals, regulators, national government and international agencies. She is an outspoken advocate of change in the South African health system, having worked across both the public and private sectors and on both the supply and demand sides of the system.
She holds a MBusSc and a BBusSc, both from UCT. She is a Fellow of the Actuarial Society of South Africa.
Cynthia Schoeman is Managing Director of Ethics Monitoring & Management Services (Pty) Ltd. She is a founding non-executive director of the Ethics Practitioners Association (EPA), and sits on the investigating committee of the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA).
She has over 15 years’ experience in the field of workplace ethics and governance. She has developed practical tools and services to support the effective and proactive management of workplace ethics within organisations and consults to private and public sector organisations in this regard.
She is a published author in the area of workplace ethics and her works include Ethics Can: Managing Workplace Ethics (2014), Ethics: Giving a Damn, Making a Difference (2012) and An Employee’s Guide to Workplace Ethics (2011). Her articles are widely published. She is a regular speaker on workplace ethics at conferences and is often interviewed on TV and radio as an ethics expert. Since 2000, she has lectured on ethics and governance as external faculty on executive and academic programmes at South Africa’s top business schools.
She holds a BA from UNISA and an MBA from Wits Business School.
Professor Laetitia Rispel holds a South African Department of Science and Technology/ National Research Foundation Research Chair, entitled Research on the Health Workforce for Equity and Quality, and is Professor of Public Health at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Professor Rispel has extensive and wide-ranging experience of research, teaching, and health leadership in different settings, and has published extensively on different aspects of health policy and the transformation of the South African health system. She has won several national and international awards.
Professor Rispel is an inaugural member of the International Academy of Quality and Safety in Health Care, established under the auspices of ISQUA. She is the current president of the World Federation of Public Health Associations, the first woman from Africa and the third in the 50-year history of the organisation to achieve this honour.
Dr Ntanganedzeni (N) Muambadzi is a specialist nuclear medicine physician. She is Acting Head of the Department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging at Polokwane Hospital. She obtained her MBChB degree from the then MEDUNSA (now Sefako Makgato University) in 2006. She furthered her studies by specialising in nuclear medicine and molecular imaging at the University of Witwatersrand. Her research efforts in advancing nuclear medicine and molecular imaging have contributed to an MMed focusing on the imaging of parathyroid adenomas.
She left Johannesburg for the rural areas of Limpopo because she believed that is where the most attention is needed. In her short time in the province, she has already been a guest speaker at two events and a member of the breast cancer steering committee of Pietersburg/Mankweng Hospital. She has improved and raised awareness of a nuclear medicine department that was failing and losing hope. Statistics show that patient turnover is now 50% more than it was prior to her arrival. She runs a lot of interdisciplinary meetings and lectures other departments on the value of nuclear medicine.
She has contributed to the local community by starting an NPO foundation that helps the most vulnerable. It assists patients with chronic illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, diseases of lifestyle, hypertension, diabetes and breast cancer.
Khama Rogo, MBChB, MMed O/G, PhD, trained as an obstetrician/gynaecologist. He has been an articulate advocate for reproductive health and rights for over two decades and is strongly committed to community and reproductive health.
As Ipas Vice-President for Africa and Global Affairs (1998-2000), he introduced MVA in Africa against formidable forces and built a scale-up programme to implement Ipas’s regional and global strategic vision to promote women’s reproductive health and rights.
He is a former President of the Kenya Medical Association, President of the Kenya Cancer Society and Chairman of Kenya’s National Council for Population and Development. He led the Kenya Obstetrical and Gynecological Society for many years and is currently spearheading the formation of the East, Central and Southern Africa College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ECSACOG).
He is the founder of the Centre for the Study of Adolescence in Nairobi as well as the Nairobi Oncology Centre, the first specialist cancer care and advisory clinic in east Africa. He is also founder of two innovative hospital programmes in Kenya, one of which is the only specialised hospital for women in east and central Africa, providing care for victims of gender-based violence and rape as part of a comprehensive package of services.
He is currently the Lead Health Sector Specialist and Head of the Health in Africa Initiative, a private-sector health-focused programme of the World Bank Group. Prior to this he was Senior Advisor for Population and Reproductive Health at the World Bank. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers, chapters and books, and continues to pursue an academic career through numerous adjunct professorial appointments, lectures and the supervision of postgraduate students at universities in Africa, Europe and North America.
Leon Wang is Executive Vice President, International and China President at AstraZeneca. He is responsible for the overall strategy for the region and for driving sustainable growth across our activities in China, Asia Area, Australia, New Zealand, as well as Latin America, Brazil, Russia, Eurasia, the Middle East and Africa. As a member of AstraZeneca’s Senior Executive Team, Leon reports to the CEO, Pascal Soriot.
Leon joined AstraZeneca China in March 2013 as Vice President for GI, Respiratory, Anaesthesia and Anti-infection (GRA), and was promoted to President of AstraZeneca China in 2014. Under Leon’s leadership, China has become AstraZeneca’s second-largest market worldwide, and AstraZeneca has become the second largest and the fastest-growing multinational pharmaceutical company in China. In January 2017, Leon was promoted to Executive Vice President, Asia Pacific Region at AstraZeneca, with responsibility for the strategy and sustainable growth of businesses in China, Asia Area, Australia and New Zealand.
As a local leader, Leon grew up, studied, and developed his career in Shanghai, and he is devoted to the long-term development of AstraZeneca’s business in China as well as the nation’s pharmaceutical industry.
During his tenure, Leon has advocated and driven the commercial innovation strategy in China. Focusing on the core company value of ‘Putting Patients First’, he has led the company’s efforts to establish strategic collaboration with cross-border partners, to provide innovative integrated diagnosis-and-treatment solution covering the entire patient journey and help for establishing an innovative healthcare ecosystem in the industry.
With twenty years of extensive management experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including a series of positions of increasing responsibility in marketing and business leadership at Roche, where he was a Business Unit Vice President before joining AstraZeneca, Leon has developed deep and unique insights into China’s healthcare and pharmaceutical industries.
In addition, Leon holds several positions in local trade associations and other prominent organizations. These include Member of the 12th Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Deputy to the 16th Wuxi Municipal People’s Congress, Senior Vice President of China Pharmaceutical Enterprise Association, Vice Chairman of the 7th Council of the Shanghai Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment.
Leon holds an EMBA from China Europe International Business School, and a Bachelor of Arts from Shanghai International Studies University.
Nir Kaminer is a founding partner of MedRev – Medical Reviews International. He has built up a team of internationally experienced clinical and business executives who operate a global network of medical specialists in all medical areas. He brings to his work years of management consulting background and more than 10 years of experience in helping healthcare insurers to optimise their claims operations and improve healthcare provisioning.
Neil Nyirongo holds a PhD in Business Administration, an MPhil and a BSocSci. He worked for the Reserve Bank of Malawi for 33 years, retiring in 2010 as Head of Economic Services. Since then he has been teaching at university level and consulting in economics and finance. He has undertaken major assignments with institutions such as the African Union Commission – to establish the African Central Bank in Abuja, Nigeria; the African Development Bank – in an attempt to induce resumption of direct budget support to Malawi; and Bankable Frontier Associates of Boston, USA – to enhance use of electronic payments in Malawi.
As Head of Economic Services at the Reserve Bank of Malawi, he was responsible for implementation of the monetary policy mandate, starting with framework design, and the attendant strategies to attain Malawi’s macroeconomic objectives. These included staff deployment and development, with particular attention to teamwork and welfare that enhanced a sense of belonging and commitment to duty. He worked as a major link on technical issues, both internally on monetary policy stance and externally on fiscal aspects, with bilateral and multilateral institutional consultations.
Charles Dalton has 30 years of operational and strategic management experience in public, private and health insurance settings. He started his career in the NHS UK working in three large hospitals and then Kings College London before the Audit Commission UK with their health service value-for-money team. Thereafter he moved to South Africa and in 1998 established the KPMG South Africa health advisory practice where he completed over 100 advisory engagements. He joined EOH Health in 2011 and then IFC in 2013 as a senior health specialist, where he advises globally on IFC’s health service investments from the perspective of business model market relevance and strategic fit, management arrangements, operational and service models, quality and review of financial projections for investment decision-making.
He has gained considerable emerging market knowledge from investment opportunities in the private health sector through to ‘whole health system design’ and implementation of policy/strategy.
He has a practical understanding of challenges facing health systems in emerging markets and the opportunities presented for relevant and sustainable public-private collaboration. He also has a strong process understanding of the operational and service practicalities necessary to make health systems and service work.
Mr. Michael Mncedisi Willie is currently employed as General Manager for Research and Monitoring at the CMS. He has extensive experience in advanced and predictive analysis, policy research and has worked on the various dataset from various sources and industries including compensation for occupational diseases and injuries. Michael has a BSc in Mathematics and Applied Statistics and an MSc in Mathematical Statistics and Risk Analysis from the University of the Free State. He has completed advanced strategic and marketing management post graduate programs and is currently completing an MBA degree. Michael is currently a member of the Institute of Directors (IoD) and has a keen interest in leadership programs, especially governance in the private health sector.
Dr Odwa Mazwai is Clinical and Operations Executive of Sizwe Medical Fund. He holds an MBChB from Walter Sisulu Medical School. He served as a medical officer in the public sector in Gauteng, earning his Diploma in Anaesthesiology from Wits.
Dr Mazwai has extensive clinical experience and integrates this with public health, health economics and health policy knowledge. He remains excited about the changes that are on the horizon for healthcare in South Africa and believes the ripples of these changes for the better will permeate throughout the continent.
Barry Childs is Joint CEO of Insight Actuaries & Consultants. He holds a BSc (Hons) and a Postgraduate Diploma (Health Economics). He is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and Chair of the healthcare committee of the Actuarial Society.
After starting his healthcare career at Liberty Health, hey moved to Discovery Health where he specialised in managed care analytics and healthcare provider risk management strategies. He started his consulting practice in 2007; this was merged into Insight Actuaries & Consultants in 2013.
He is passionate about healthcare and provides advice to a wide range of public and private healthcare role-players on matters including strategy, analytics, and policy. Areas of interest include fintech, case mix and risk adjustment, reimbursement models, quality measurement and improvement, product design, wellness and behavioural science.
Mark Bayley holds a BSocSci and a Postgraduate Diploma in Management. He is currently Managing Director of Universal Healthcare Administrators. A highly seasoned executive, he has a solid commercial background with extensive experience at executive level in the healthcare, financial services, information technology and consulting sectors.
He has extensive experience in developing strategy and in managing people, processes, systems and operational infrastructure and has run a number of complex businesses. He has been responsible for the deployment of large-scale strategic initiatives in order to create commercial business value. These have included the deployment of new operating models leveraging best-of-breed strategy and human resources, as well as process and technological solutions.
He is accountable for managing the Strategic Business Unit of Universal Healthcare Administrators, with full profit and loss accountability, and ensures that budgets, business plans and contracted services to clients are delivered effectively. He is responsible for managing all operational and administration services to the schemes under Universal Healthcare’s administration. Included in his portfolio are scheme governance, benefit design, the management of multiple contact centres, contributions management, membership management, scheme and business unit finance and claims processing. He is also responsible for ensuring service excellence to client schemes’ members and patients.
He currently serves as a director on the Board of Healthcare Funders. He is involved in a number of healthcare industry initiatives, including the facilitation of transformation of the sector to align with NHI, while ensuring affordable universal access to quality healthcare.
Charlton Murove is the head of research in the newly established in-house specialised research unit of the Board of Healthcare Funders of Southern Africa (BHF). He is a qualified actuary with a strong track record in healthcare and retirement funds. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce honours degree in actuarial science from the National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Zimbabwe.
Charlton worked as a trainee actuary at Quantum Consultants and Actuaries before joining QED Actuaries and Consultants. In 2009 he was appointed as a mid-level actuarial specialist at Metropolitan, where he managed projects in the product development department, developed tools to sell the product offering and oversaw rationalisation of performance reporting on fund factsheets across the group.
After his short stint at Metropolitan, he was appointed as a senior actuarial analyst and later an actuarial specialist at Alexander Forbes Financial Services; in the latter role, he managed technical work for medical schemes and post-retirement medical aid subsidy valuations. In 2014 he was appointed by the Council for Medical Schemes as a senior researcher, where he worked on issues affecting the medical schemes environment such as medical inflation, prescribed minimum benefits, solvency and managed health care. He is currently studying towards a Master’s of Science in epidemiology specialising in implementation science at the University of Witwatersrand.
Clarence Mini is currently the chairperson of the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS). He previously served as chairperson of the Board of Healthcare Funders of Southern Africa (BHF) and board member of the Government Employees’ Medical Scheme.
Prior to his current commitment, he also previously successfully fulfilled the following roles: principal medical officer for Port Elizabeth Municipality, national director for Family Health International and national coordinator and deputy national director of Management Sciences for Health.
He has served as co-chairperson of the National AIDS Convention of South Africa (NACOSA). NACOSA wrote the first National HIV/AIDS Plan for South Africa in 1994. He has served on the committee of inquiry into National Health Insurance (NHI), on the board of directors for the Hospice Palliative Care Association and as executive director of the MESAB Palliative Care Initiative.
He was a member of the core team that wrote the latest HIV/AIDS National Strategic Plan, the past president of the Gauteng Medical Association and the chairperson of the Gauteng Health Facility Accreditation Committee. He served as member of the board of the Institute for Human Evolution at Wits University and as a trustee of St Andrew’s School for Girls. He has been a member of the Johannesburg Mayoral AIDS Council, chairman of the board of directors for Africa Health Placements and corporate affairs executive for Thebe ya Bophelo Healthcare Administrators.
Dr Mothudi is the managing director of the Board of Healthcare Funders of Southern Africa (BHF).
He is a qualified medical practitioner with over 21 years’ experience in health care, having held various positions in health care management and strategic leadership positions in both the public and private health care sector. Prior to joining the BHF, he worked at Sizwe Medical Fund, initially as the executive head for operations and clinical services, and then as the principal executive officer.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree, in chemistry and applied chemistry. As a medical doctor he specialised in sports medicine. This afforded him an opportunity to work with various sports organisations and teams caring for athletes in different sporting codes. He has served on several boards and was also a deputy chairman of the Doping Subcommittee of the South African Football Association.
Johann has 12 years’ experience as a general practitioner coupled with some 19 years’ experience in health management, managed healthcare, health analytics and clinical and procedure coding. He specialises in clinical and procedure coding and the clinical analysis of health claims data.
Johann advises medical schemes, healthcare service providers, medical practitioners and corporate clients on the development, implementation and monitoring of clinical risk management strategies and has a passion for finding mechanisms that will ensure access to appropriate care leading to optimal health outcomes.
Johann has a particular interest in the measurement of the quality of health provided and received together the associated health outcomes. He has been the lead consultant to Health Quality Assessment (HQA) for the last eight years and has been instrumental in the development of HQA into an authoritative provider of health quality information. He has presented at numerous conferences on the topic of health quality measurement.
Education and Credentials
▪ Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (Studies in Medicine – University of Stellenbosch)
▪ Master’s in Business Administration (University of Stellenbosch)
▪ Registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa
Evan Bradley is a qualified actuary, a Fellow of the Actuarial Society of South Africa and a chartered enterprise risk actuary. He holds a Bachelor of Business Science degree in actuarial science from the University of Cape Town as well as a Healthcare Practising Certificate from the Actuarial Society of South Africa.
He started his career with a large international employee benefits firm, providing consulting solutions to a variety of blue chip institutions, including employers, medical schemes and retirement funds. As a senior member of the actuarial consulting division, he was responsible for performing and overseeing the provision of advice in the areas of healthcare actuarial consulting, retirement fund consulting and corporate strategy.
In 2015, he founded 3ONE Consulting Actuaries together with two other healthcare actuaries, growing the firm into one of the most prominent independent healthcare actuarial consultancies in southern Africa. Offering highly valued strategic advice to over 80 clients across 10 countries, he continues to embrace solutions that are collaborative and innovation-driven. The consulting areas he is involved in within the healthcare space, include: medical scheme and health insurance provider benefit design and contribution pricing; reimbursement modelling; claims experience analytics and business intelligence systems; governance; risk-based capital reviews; health outcome analyses; dynamic reporting solutions; provider profiling and sales and distribution strategy.
Advocate Rebaone (Rebs/Reba) Gaoraelwe has been an admitted advocate since 2008. He holds an LLM degree from the University of Pretoria, a Higher Diploma in Company Law from Wits University, LLB & BProc degrees from the University of Natal (now UKZN) and a Certificate in Public Sector Governance & Strategy from UNISA’s School of Business Leadership.
He has extensive board and committee experience and is currently a council member of the Council for Medical Schemes. He previously served as: Deputy Chairperson of the Council for Tshwane University of Technology and is also a former Chairperson of the Appeals Committee for the SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport; a former Member of the SA Dental Technicians Council and a former Member of the Attorneys Fidelity Fund’s Governance and Policy Committee. He is a seasoned former corporate executive. He is the CEO/ Registrar of the SA Board for the Sheriffs Profession; he is the former Divisional Executive: Statutory Functions at the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) and has also worked for the Presidential SOE Review Commission as a legal and governance specialist; he worked for the South African Maritime Safety Authority and Alexkor (SoC) Ltd as Company Secretary and Legal Counsel; as well as the National Department of Public Enterprises as Director: Legal and Governance.
He has extensive consulting experience and a background in corporate legal governance; strategy, regulation and compliance. He has consulted or is consulting to such entities as the Seychelles Planning Authority, the Engineering Council of South Africa, the South African Council for the Quantity Surveying Profession and Mjindi Farms (Pty), to mention but a few.
Dr Visegan Subrayen holds a Bachelor’s degree in Dental Surgery from the University of the Western Cape and an MBA from the University of Cape Town.
He is Programme Manager for the GP Care Cell model at PPOServe and has played an integral role in the conceptualisation and development of the programme. He has diverse experience within the South African healthcare landscape. The design and implementation of innovative and disruptive solutions to improve healthcare accessibility is a personal mission. He is a qualified dentist having worked at two public hospitals, where he was responsible for their oral health programmes, and also had a short tenure in private practice. In the corporate environment he was the General Manager of a private hospital for a publicly listed group. He has been a freelance consultant in the hospital commissioning space. Further experience involves two entrepreneurial ventures in retail and manufacturing after completing his MBA. His special interest is quality management in healthcare.
Grace Khoza is an expert in corporate communications, strategic relations and strategy development. She holds a Masters’ degree from the London School of Economics and an Honours’ degree in journalism from Rhodes University.
In September 2018, she took up the position of General Manager: Stakeholder Relations at the Council for Medical Schemes. She is responsible for reputation management and marketing the council to a broad range of stakeholders: general public, healthcare sector, government and international bodies. She is also responsible for its education and training function, the aim of which is to empower the various stakeholders in medical schemes including boards of trustees, principal officers, brokers, scheme members and the public.
She began her career as a researcher and assistant producer on Carte Blanche. She then worked as a journalist and producer at the SABC. Her career in the public sector culminated at the Department of Foreign Affairs, where she worked closely with former Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (former Chair of the African Union Commission) as Head of Strategic Communication and Marketing.
In the private sector, she served as a strategic advisor to leading media houses including M-Net and MultiChoice Africa. She later worked as Head of Public Relations at the acclaimed consultancy, Bain International.
Between 2014 and 2018, she served as an executive director responsible for corporate affairs and group marketing at the AfroCentric Group. In this role, she was responsible for overseeing all marketing, PR and reputation activities within South Africa and internationally.
Over the years, she has also provided AfroCentric with guidance and support on stakeholder relations with government and respective state actors like the Government Employees’ Medical Scheme (GEMS), Parliament and the South African Police Medical Scheme (Polmed). Between 2016 and 2018, she provided guidance on AfroCentric’s participation in the Health Market Inquiry.
Johannes Malose (Joe) Seoloane was appointed Curator of the South African Municipal Workers Union National Medical Scheme (SAMWUMED) in October 2018. SAMWUMED is a fully funded, self-administered scheme offering cover for local government employees in South Africa.
He has been curator of several other schemes and is a healthcare turnaround specialist who assists in turning around schemes with trustees unable to comply with their fiduciary responsibilities. He has an in-depth understanding of the business of the Council for Medical Schemes.
He co-founded Pro Active Health Solutions in 2000, a joint venture with Old Mutual South Africa, as its CEO focusing on health risk management, introducing the integration of health funding, disability management, wellness and ill health management for government employees and state-owned enterprises. He joined Mx Health as Managing Director of the administration and managed healthcare business in 2004. During this time he also assisted GenHealth, a scheme under curatorship, to stabilise its administration and management. He was the Corporate Clients Director for Fedsure Health until 1999.
He was formerly Chief Executive Officer of Sanlam Health where he was responsible for among others, overall strategy, risk, compliance and financial management of the healthcare management business.
Anthony Pedersen is a qualified chartered accountant with over 19 years’ experience in the medical aid industry in various roles. After completing his articles, he joined Momentum Medical Scheme Administrators Proprietary Limited (formerly Sovereign Health Proprietary Limited) where he progressed to Financial Director. He moved within the Momentum Group to CFO of Group Benefits, before relocating to Mauritius in 2007, where he was responsible for establishing a new health insurance business for the Group.
Anthony joined AfroCentric in 2010, initially as Managing Director of the Group’s International operations, before being appointed COO of Medscheme South Africa. He has been Managing Director of Helios IT Solutions since 1 May 2016.
In January 2018, he was appointed as Medscheme Chief Executive Officer, to lead the South African, African and International operations of Medscheme.
Michael D Fratkin, MD, FAAHPM, is a builder, innovator and dreamer who approaches life and the practice of medicine with love and respect. Incorporating principles of value-based payment, technology-enabled service delivery and interprofessional team integration, Dr Fratkin and his team created ResolutionCare Network to build capacity for high-quality home-based palliative care in rural northern California and beyond.
These principles have been the foundation for bringing care to hundreds of people over thousands of square miles while delivering the best possible value to people and families, as well as much needed relief to rural health systems and health plans. Through professional training, technical assistance and consulting support, ResolutionCare Institute is a catalyst for palliative care programme development across the globe as communities seek to address challenges of workforce deficiency, large distances, professional resiliency and the slow acceptance of concurrent palliative care complementing disease-directed care. By giving voice to people navigating serious illness and the professionals called to serve them from within complex legacy health delivery systems, Dr Fratkin is gathering collaborators with the courage to build the future of person-centred healthcare around the world.
Tryphine Zulu is a Senior Manager: Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS). She holds a BPharm, MSc Med (Pharmacotherapy) and MPH (Health Economics) and is a PhD candidate (Public Health).
In her position at GEMS she is responsible for disease risk and medicines management. She trained as a pharmacist and is a public health scholar specialising in health economics. She has a keen interest in the social determinants of health as drivers of the observed inequality and inequity in the effective coverage of healthcare services for non-communicable diseases.
Dr Ntuthuko Bhengu is a panel member of the Health Market Inquiry, Commissioner on the SA National Planning Commission and a chartered director (SA). He completed a term of eight years as a board and advisory committee member of Nestle (SA) (Pty) Ltd and more than seven years as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Road Accident Fund. In 2017, he was elected to serve as a non-executive director of the Institute of Directors in Southern Africa and currently chairs the Certifications Committee of the board. He is a Fellow of the Africa Leadership Initiative.
Dr Bhengu obtained his MBChB from Natal University and a Diploma in Anaesthetics from the College of Medicine of SA. His business management qualifications include an MBA and MPH: Healthcare Management. The latter degree from Harvard gave him an in-depth understanding of global health policy and management of corporations in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, hospital and health insurance sectors. In March 2018 he was invited by the Harvard Global Health Institute to participate as a speaker at a London (UK) workshop on counterfeit and substandard medicines. The theme of the meeting was: ‘Medicines that Lie: A Deadly Public Health Crisis’.
He has an interest in the application of blockchain in the health sector. Over the past year, he has attended several international blockchain conferences and has delivered speeches on the subject.
Mondi Govuzela holds a BSc (Wits) and BSc Hons (Med) (MEDUNSA) and has been employed in various positions at the Council for Medical Schemes for the past 13 years; he is currently Senior Researcher in the Research and Monitoring Unit.
He works on policy monitoring, focusing on the maintenance of the healthcare utilisation statutory returns system, healthcare utilisation analysis and reporting and healthcare finance policy research. He recently completed the WHO advanced course in healthcare financing for low- and middle-income countries.
Vulindlela is the Chief Executive of Cimas Medical Aid Society in Zimbabwe. He is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Accountancy degree from the University of Zimbabwe. He is the past President and council member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe.
Vuli is a former Managing Director of BancABC and of Lufuno Capital Partners, where he worked on private equity and consulting assignments in Africa and worked with Small Enterprise Assistance Funds (SEAF) in promoting the SEAF Global Vintage Flexible Fund. He is a former partner at KPMG Zimbabwe, where he started the KPMG Corporate Finance practice in Zimbabwe in 1997.
Neo Khauoe is an accomplished multi-skilled individual with more than 25 years’ managerial experience in the medical schemes environment, which includes serving as Principal Officer of Polmed and Sizwe Medical Fund, General Manager, Scheme Executive, Client Relationship Manager and Provider Relations Manager. This experience has contributed to her acquiring high-level management, administrative, strategic, organisational, stakeholder liaison, networking, decision-making, diplomacy, marketing, protocol and communication skills.
She began her career as a nurse at Baragwanath Hospital, where she excelled before moving into the medical schemes industry 25 years ago. She was instrumental in managing the administration and managed care contract that contributed to Polmed’s success, as reported in the media by independent companies such as Alexander Forbes.
In 2014, she spearheaded the takeover of the strategic management of Sizwe Medical Fund out of curatorship. Thanks to her proven track record of good governance, ensuring effective and efficient functioning organisations, member participation and stakeholder management, when she left the scheme was stable with a good financial outlook. She is currently Principal Officer of Polmed.
Dr Stan Moloabi is a qualified medical practitioner registered with the HPCSA.
He obtained his primary medical degree – MBChB – at the then Medical University of Southern Africa (MEDUNSA). His other qualifications include a Diploma in Business Management with Damelin Management School and a Certificate in HIV Management. He also studied towards a Masters in Family Medicine. He is a member of the Institute of Directors of South Africa.
He started his medical career as a general practitioner, successfully running a clinical private practice for 13 years. He joined the corporate sector in August 2005. He worked at Medscheme occupying the positions of Medical Advisor, Senior Manager Hospital Benefit Management, Senior Manager: Client Liaison for the GEMS account and served as a member of the managed care division’s Exco. He then joined GEMS as Executive of Healthcare Management where he also served as Acting Principal Officer for a year. He left GEMS to become Principal Officer of Medshield, one of the top ten open medical schemes in South Africa, a position he held until 15 May 2018.
He is currently Chief Operations Officer of GEMS, the second biggest medical scheme in South Africa, a position he took up on 1 June 2018.
Nicolas Garcia is currently IDEMIA’s Regional Director of Sales (Connect Objects/Biometric Terminals) for Middle East and Africa. He started his career in France as an information technology specialist when floppy disks were still in use, many moons ago.
In 2002, he moved to South Africa to work for the French Embassy’s Trade Commission as IT Manager for Southern African operations, a position he held for two years. He was subsequently introduced to access control and biometrics in 2004 when he joined IDEMIA – then called SAGEM South Africa. SAGEM was a France-based company and world leader in biometrics and access control at that point entering the African market.
Over the past 18 years, he has occupied key positions such as Technical Manager, Sales and Operations Manager, Sales and Marketing Director and Business Unit Manager.
Stephen Uanjengua-ije Tjiuoro holds the following qualifications: a Postgraduate Diploma in Strategy and Innovation from Oxford University, UK; a Certificate Programme in Finance and Accounting (Wits Business School – RSA); a Bachelor of Law degree (B Juris) from UNISA and a National Diploma in Police Science from the Polytechnic of Namibia. He is currently pursuing an LLM degree through UNISA.
He is currently the CEO of the Namibian Association of Medical Aid Funds (NAMAF). He assumed the position on 1 April 2017. He has overall responsibility for the leadership, management and performance of the functions of NAMAF, a juristic body created to control, promote, encourage and co-ordinate the establishment, development and functioning of medical aid funds in Namibia. Prior to this he worked as a public prosecutor, as principal assessment officer of the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund and subsequently also as its first chief operations officer and de facto CEO.
Vuyo Mafata is the Commissioner of the Compensation Fund, a public entity of the Department of Labour in the Republic of South Africa. The Compensation Fund is a healthcare funder in the area of occupational injuries and diseases and provides social security safety net in the event of an injury in the workplace.
He was appointed to this role in June 2015, on an assignment which was meant to be for a short period and confirmed to stay on permanently in April 2016. Prior to his assignment at the Compensation Fund he was the Chief Financial Officer of the Unemployment Insurance Fund, another entity of the Department of Labour, where he had been for 10 years in various roles.
Together with his management team, Vuyo Mafata has embarked on a process to improve the fortunes of the Compensation Fund and to ensure that it lives up to the important role that it has been established to do in the South African labour market. In the short space of time, there are already signs that Vuyo and his team are achieving the desired results, though the complete turnaround will be realised over a longer period of time.
Bongani Bingwa has established himself as a respected and well-known presenter. His passion for broadcasting was implanted in him at a young age, in 1993, when he worked as a presenter for children’s television on SABC’s TV1. Following that he quickly progressed to presenting for a more mature audience on shows like Your Own Business and Channel O on DSTV.
For more than a decade of his career he has been a presenter and journalist for one of South Africa’s longest running investigative shows, Carte Blanche. During his career Bongani has interviewed thought leaders, senior politicians, captains of industry, authors, celebrities and headliners on the global stage. More than a few wrongdoers have come under the glare of his probing questions for the show.
Another remarkable feat under his belt is when he was anchor host on The Oscar Pistorius Trail Channel 199, which was viewed by audiences around the world.
In addition to his successful career in broadcasting and presenting, Bongani has facilitated discussions at big conferences as well as spoken at corporate, government and charity events. He has likewise conducted on-stage and camera interviews with international figures, like Tony Blair, Thabo Mbeki, Al Gore, Rudi Giuliani, Graca Machel as well as CEO’s and other leaders in various industries.
Bongani started his career as a journalist in 2005 on Talk Radio 702 as a new anchor. He quickly progressed to hosting his own show, Talk at Nine. He is a recognised leader in the industry and in Vanity Fair’s July 2007 Africa feature he was highlighted among a select few journalists and media specialists.
Before starting his career, Bongani studied politics and holds a Bachelor of Arts from UNISA.
Dr Rajesh Patel is currently head of the benefit and risk department at the Board of Healthcare Funders of Southern Africa (BHF). Prior to that, he worked as a family physician from 1987 to 1995. After leaving private practice he joined the medical aid industry. His roles in the industry have included medical advisor, scheme manager and clinical risk manager. Prior to joining the BHF in 2005, he spent two and a half years in the pharmaceutical industry. His special interests are quality assurance, value-based medicine and the application of public health principles in health risk management in the private sector.
Dr Ali Hamdulay is currently CEO, Metropolitan Health (a division of MMI Holdings). He was appointed in January 2017. His previous role was Executive Manager: New Ventures within Metropolitan Health. Ali also currently serves as Chairperson : Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF).
Having served the healthcare industry for over 20 years in many senior positions, Ali has developed vast expertise in healthcare business, administration and managed care. As a strategic thinker and leader, he has successfully researched, planned and lead the implemented novel models of healthcare to improve the health business’ capabilities. In addition, he has successfully provided leadership and management of large teams to improve business performance in delivering against its strategic objectives of growth, profitably and margin conversion.
Ali has a comprehensive understanding of the healthcare ecosystems, identifying critical role players in this ecosystem, markets dynamics, inter-dependencies and functioning. He has forged strong relationships across the supply side (health practitioners and facilities), funder community, regulatory bodies and government leaders, and has developed a prominent reputation in the health industry as an industry thought leader. He has excellent communication skills and considerable media exposure contributing to several industry discourses via numerous conference presentations, radio interviews and print media.
Dr Guni Goolab, 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.
Dr Goolab has been extensively involved in the South African healthcare industry and was appointed President of the Pharmaceutical Industry Association of South Africa (PIASA) from 2004 to 2006. He further served on in the B-BBEE Working Group of PIASA. Additionally, he was an Executive Member of the Private Health Forum.
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. Since his appointment Principal Officer in August 2013, GEMS financial, clinical and corporate governance has been strengthened. Further, GEMS has since been positioned as an integral role-player of driving transformation in the South African healthcare industry. Dr Goolab is a Director of the Board of Healthcare Funders and serves on the Universal Health Coverage Sub-Committee.
Michelle Beneke is director of Volvere (Pty) Ltd, a corporate and commercial legal advisory consultancy and is an admitted attorney with over 22 years’ experience in corporate and commercial law. Michelle has practised as an attorney, has experience in a corporate environment and has been a partner at a management consultancy.
She has experience in legal practice but has spent the majority of her career in corporate environment having advised clients on acquisitions and disposals in the private sector in various countries in Africa (including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Gabon, Egypt and Mauritius) as well as in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
She has advised clients in the private and public sector in various industries including advertising, energy, engineering, mining and exploration, grant funding, forestry, hospitality, healthcare funding, heavy industrial, infrastructure, investment holdings, IT, logistics and supply chain management, manufacturing, media and film, military procurement, property, rail, retail, robotics, software and tertiary education.
Michelle is the company secretary for the Board of Healthcare Funders of Southern Africa NPC and has spear-headed the development, implementation and improvement of corporate governance within the BHF environment with a focus on practical, implementable solutions whilst ensuring adherence to best practice.
Mosima is an Innovation Principal Director in Accenture’s Health Business. She is passionate about improving quality of health care and increasing efficiencies of health systems. She is excited about the role that technology can play towards attainment of better health outcomes and efficient health systems.
Mosima has diverse health industry experience gained both in South Africa and the UK, where she also worked with a leading pharmaceutical company’s product development division.
Her work in Accenture puts her at the intersection of business and technology. This affords her the privilege to experience the impact technology innovations have in transforming the health care delivery landscape.
Mosima holds an MBA from University of Oxford and an MBCHB from University of Cape Town
Chantell Ilbury is a globally-respected specialist in scenarios and strategy, a facilitator, speaker and top-selling business author. She is also a founding partner with Clem Sunter of mindofafox. She specialises in guiding organisations through strategic conversations, especially in times of uncertainty, and draws on her experience working in strategy across a diverse array of sectors, including resources, mining, agriculture, transportation, medicine, finance, and manufacturing.
Her work has also taken her as far afield as the UK, the US, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Italy, Ukraine, Australia, Jamaica, Kuwait, Singapore, India, Mauritius, Réunion Island, as well as throughout Africa.
Chantell holds a BSc in Chemistry, a post-graduate Higher Diploma in Education, an Executive MBA from the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, and
has studied Strategic Negotiation through Harvard Business School in Boston. It was at UCT in 2000 where she first met Anglo America’s Clem Sunter and shared her ideas on scenario planning that lead to the writing of their best-selling books The Mind of a Fox (2001), Games Foxes Play (2004) and Socrates and the Fox (2007). The three books were later published together as The Fox Trilogy in 2011. Her latest book
– A Fox’s Tale: Insights from one of Africa’s most creative strategic thinkers – was published by Penguin in July 2016. She is also a guest lecturer on strategy and scenario planning at a number of top business schools and is an accomplished speaker on scenarios and effective strategy in times of uncertainty.
Amongst the main areas that Chantell is asked to speak on are strategic thinking and the structure of a strategic conversation, business scenarios, global scenarios, global climate change scenarios, and scenarios for Africa.
Dr Imtiaz Ismail Sooliman was born 7 March 1962 in Potchefstroom in the North-West. He matriculated at Sastri College in Durban in 1978 and qualified as a medical doctor at the University of Natal Medical School in 1984. He commenced private practice in Pietermaritzburg in 1986 and had to terminate it in June 1994 to concentrate fully on Gift of the Givers Foundation which he founded on 6 August 1992 and has developed into one of the world’s most respectable humanitarian organisation.
Dr Grant Rex qualified with an MB BCh from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1987 and went on to obtain a BSocSci (Hons) in industrial sociology from the University of Natal Durban. He then went into clinical management at Alexandra University Clinic, where he developed a uniquely cost effective occupational health service that contracted with 50 factories in under a year. The service broke even financially in its second year of operation and is still functioning with minimal external support.
This was followed by a stint as superintendent at Baragwanath Hospital before joining Life Healthcare as a hospital manager, regional manager and eventually managing director of its overseas operations in the UK. He then joined Care UK as head of its secondary care hospital division, where he was exposed to the measurement of clinical outcomes or clinical quality assurance and the development of standardised care pathways based on this. After returning to South Africa he started the first ‘ value-based’ clinical network called Improved Clinical Pathway Services (ICPS), offering quality controlled joint replacement to the private medical aid industry as well as government. A business model was developed along the lines of UK-style ‘standardised care pathways’ using evidence-based best practice, but existing South African private sector capacity, to provide a service that is 30-50% cheaper than currently available key elective surgery procedures. ICPS has now developed pathways in neurosurgery, ophthalmology and cardiology, which are being marketed to the three main administrators. The arthroplasty pathway is contracted to deliver around 15% of all primary arthroplasty procedures in South Africa and is well placed to compete for emerging NHI opportunities. It has attracted interest from a large hospital corporation as well as one of the big three medical aid administrators.
A young man who grew up in rural KZN, South Africa. Having seen how the South African health system failed to offer the basic care and treatment in his area, Mhlengi was dedicated to help in the development of new and improved treatment regimes for patients in his community Africa.
He spent years in medical research and working in health facilities – including the fourth biggest hospital in the world, Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. This led to him identifying gaps in our health system, thus, Mhlengi decided to reposition himself to rather focus on how we can make the system work through integrations.
In order to achieve this goal, Mhlengi switched to a business school to get a business administration qualification. He was given an opportunity to focus on health systems in our of the big corporate organizations.
Finally, Mhlengi has been involved in bringing the Vula Medical Referral system to the market, creating impact through improving our health systems.
Dr Sipho Kabane is CEO/Registrar and Senior Strategist of the Council for Medical Schemes, where he is responsible for its overall management. He has held the position since February 2018. He has an outstanding record in managing province-wide health service provision with a focus on quality, reform and continuous improvement. He is skilled in managing diverse and multidisciplinary teams as well as the financial and operational aspects of health departments. Experienced in building and communicating strategy and vision, he has a strong understanding of economics and its effect on health services. An inspirational leader and project manager, he is an active and productive member of numerous committees contributing to the health and wellbeing of communities and individuals.
His qualifications include a PhD in Health Systems (University of Pretoria), an MPhil in Economic Policy (University of Stellenbosch), an MBA (Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK) and a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (Wits University).
Dr Christian Stoeckigt is a multilingual professional with over 12 years of experience in medical affairs, sales and business development. He holds a Dr.rer.nat (PhD) in microbiology, immunology, computer science from the University of Goettingen, Germany, and a Dipl-Biol (MSc) in biophysics, immunology, laser physics from the University of Düsseldorf, Germany.
He has a proven ability to effectively drive change and growth with strategic, analytical, and innovative problem-solving skills. He is a results-driven business leader with proven success in developing and executing strategies for sales expansion and market development.
He has extensive international managerial experience coordinating multiple global projects and priorities and is dedicated to team success through strong management and leadership skills.
He is currently Head of Scientific Affairs EMEAC – Diagnostics Solutions at Hologic Deutschland GmbH Wiesbaden, Germany, where his responsibilities include leadership for and development of a diverse team of senior key experts, definition and implementation of the scientific affairs strategy across Hologic’s diagnostic portfolio, building and management of strategic alliances in emerging markets with major global health partnerships (USAID, The Global Fund, WHO) and key NGOs, strategic planning for acceleration of commercial presence in developing markets and cross-functional liaison with marketing, market access and sales for alignment with business strategies.
Prior to this he was Head of Global Clinical & Scientific Marketing at Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Products GmbH, Marburg, Germany, with leadership responsibility for a global team of senior marketing executives, medical writers and editors. He was also a member of the Siemens Healthcare Technology Center Innovation Board.
Dr. Sivuyile Madikana is a Business Consultant and senior manager at First Care Solutions working on new business, business development and strategy. He is also a project consultant to the Chief Economist of the World Food Programme, specifically working within digital innovation and its role in improving health outcomes. Dr Sivu holds an MB BCh degree from Wits Medical School and an MBA from Wits Business School with a research focus on digital technology in healthcare and its impact on HIV/AIDS awareness and behavioral change in young men in South Africa. He just recently graduated with a Master of Public Health degree from New York University specializing in healthcare management, policy and sustainable development.
Dr Sivu has experience and understanding of the public and private healthcare sector. In his tenure at UN Women in New York, he worked in the Policy and Governance Division looking at the role of digital innovation for youth engagement in HIV/AIDS. He has held various roles in youth leadership including serving on national executive committee of the Junior Doctors Association of South Africa.
Adv. Bhuka is 45 years of age and has a family (wife and children) from whom he -draws inspiration. He strongly believes in organic transformation and empowerment. He has served in both the private and public sector litigation, consulting / advisory, in house counsel, compliance, risk, forensic investigation, ethics management / oversight as well as public policy development.
Dr. Lousine Alpern is the Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Medical Reviews International, an International medical review organization. She is an accomplished physician executive with experience in clinical and corporate medicine, business development, policy, medical research, as well as payor side of health care on international scale. Dr. Alpern is a board-certified radiologist with fellowship training in breast and body Imaging and a graduate degree in Pharmacology from Cambridge University (British Marshall Scholar). In addition, Dr. Alpern has training in Medical Informatics as well as experience in basic science and clinical research with work experience in academic and private practice.
Aimée Wesso is a Senior Strategist in Disease Risk Management at Medscheme. In addition to her current role in private healthcare, she has work experience in both private practice and public healthcare. Aimée has published and conducted formal research on topics relating to consumer behaviour and patient satisfaction. This exposure has revealed the role that behavioural science can play in designing healthcare interventions that positively impact health outcomes. Aimée believes that person-centric interventions are essential to sustainable healthcare and requires the involvement and alignment of the entire healthcare environment.
Chris Adams is a Medical Technologist, trained at SAIMR. He spent 17 years at Clinical / Lancet labs in Johannesburg He is qualified and registered in both Chemical Pathology and Clinical Pathology (med tech) and holds an NDT in Microbiology. He holds a B Com from Unisa, An MBA from Henley Management School / Brunel university (London) and a post Grad certificate in Health Economics at UCT. His MBA dissertation was entitled “Pathology billing styles in South Africa. The necessity for transparency in the billing relationship”.
He is a Director of Verirad (Pty) ltd and Verimed Africa Pty) Ltd (Botswana). These companies provide Health Risks management services to funders of medical services in the sectors of Pathology and Radiology.
Verirad (Pty) Ltd is listed on the Technology Top 100 companies as recognised by the Department of Science and Technology and has won awards for, Innovation , People Management , Systems Management and Sustainable Management . The company has since 2002 regularly won PMR awards as the top-rated specialist Pathology and Radiology management company in SA. Verirad was a finalist in the 2017 and 2019 Titanium Awards run by BHF
Chris serves on the steering committee of the Health Fraud Management Unit (HFMU) of BHF. The company Verirad was a contributor to the Health Market inquiry and has presented at BHF , SASMLT and Case managers of South Africa conferences in South Africa and at AFHoZ conferences in Zimbabwe
Chris is married with three children and lives in Johannesburg
Dr Hleli Nhlapo qualified with a BChD from Medunsa in July 1991. He obtained a postgraduate diploma in forensic dentistry and an MSc Dent Sc (Forensic Dentistry) from Stellenbosch University in 1999 and 2002, respectively.
He is registered with the HPCSA as a general dental practitioner. He served as a director of Oralnet from 1998 until January 2005 and as an executive member of the South African Medical and Dental Practitioners’ Association (SAMDP) from 1996 to 2001.
He is currently the managing director of the medical schemes division of Dental Information Systems (Pty) Ltd (DENIS), a position he has held since January 2005. He is an executive at EOH’s health business unit and also serves as chairman of the HFMU within the BHF. He is a board member and director of the BHF.
He practised as a dental surgeon for 14 years before joining DENIS. He has attended various dental specialty postgraduate courses and received certificates. He has served as the dental advisor for Medscheme (1998-2004) and Managed Health Systems (2002-2004), and as a local area manager for Bankmed under MHS. He was part of the SAMDP yearly tariff increase negotiation team with the then RAMS and was also involved in the negotiations with the Dental Technicians Council that made it possible for dental technicians to claim directly from medical schemes. He has attended international conferences and facilitated sessions at the GHCAN on fraud, waste and abuse. He has spoken at the BHF conference on the latter subject at previous BHF conferences. He is an annual invitee of the University of the Western Cape’s dental faculty and speaks to final year students on the subject of private health funding in South Africa.
Ashika Lucken is currently the senior state advocate in the Specialised Commercial Crime Unit (Durban) of the National Prosecuting Authority. She obtained a BA (Law) and a B Laws from the University of Durban. She has a right of appearance in the High Court.
From September 2004, when she was appointed as senior state advocate, she has prosecuted a vast number of complex commercial crime cases and guided investigations in such cases. In addition, she advises, assists and trains South African Police Service (SAPS) investigators and other stakeholders in complex commercial crime cases. She has spent time at the Department of Justice as a prosecutor in the District, Regional and Reception Courts. Throughout her career, she has received many merit awards.
Mr. Mashimbye is a qualified financial accountant who studied at the Technikon Northern Gauteng (now Tshwane University of Technology) and the Technikon South Africa (now UNISA). He majored in Financial Accounting and Corporate Law and also studied towards his MBA with the Management College of SA (still to be completed). He is currently completing his studies towards his Corporate Governance qualification through the Chartered Secretaries Institute of South Africa.
He has over 17 years’ experience in accounting and financial management in both the public and private sectors with Telkom, Edcon and the Department of Trade & Industry, with more than 10 years of these at senior management level. Mashimbye has served on the board of The Business Place and is currently a Director on the Board of the South African Savings Institute, where he previously also held the position of Audit and Risk Committee Chairperson. He has previously fulfilled the role of CFO (for a 10 year period), Acting COO and Acting CEO of Proudly South African and was appointed permanent CEO in December 2016.
Vusi Makanda is currently a Senior Manager: Fraud, Waste and Abuse at Bonitas Medical Scheme. Before joining Bonitas, Vusi held various managerial positions in the Insurance and Health industry where he advised and coordinated the fraud risk management activities of several medical schemes.
In addition, he has over 20 years law enforcement and risk management experience obtained in both the public and private sector. He holds a post-graduate legal qualification from the University of the Western Cape and Leadership qualification from the University of Stellenbosch Business School.
Dr Manyangane Raymond Billa was on 1 January 2019 appointed as the new Registrar/CEO of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). Dr Billa obtained his degree in Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBCh) from the Medical University of Southern Africa (MEDUNSA) in 1991. He further received a certificate in Quantitative Risk Analysis from School of Tropical Medicine in Belgium in 2008. In 2010 he attained an MSc in Bioethics and Health Law from the University of the Witwatersrand.In 2014 he graduated for GCRA Executive Leadership Development Programme – Gordon Institute of Business Science, Pretoria University. To enhance his leadership skills in 2017 he obtained a certificate in Leadership Programme in Health Care (CETAD) from Lancaster University. Dr Billa has a wealth of knowledge and experience (spanning over 17 years) within the health industry. Before occupying the Registrar/CEO post at the HPCSA, he was the Chief Executive Officer at Helen Joseph Hospital from May 2013. His management career commenced in 2002 where he was the Head of Medical Services at Tembisa Hospital. From 2005 to 2006, he moved on to Sterkfontein Hospital where he was the Chief Executive Officer.
Karen Dreyer is a legal, risk & compliance specialist who works as a specialist legal advisor to the Universal Healthcare Group. Karen also acts as an advisor for a number of Universal’s clients, and also consults to other clients on an independent basis. She is also a qualified attorney and notary. She has spent 8½ years in legal practice and 18 years within the healthcare and healthcare information technology industries in South Africa. Her experience includes 7 years within the healthcare funding industry in the USA.
Her experience in the South African healthcare sector includes being Company Secretary & Legal Advisor for MediKredit, and General Manager: Group Legal, Risk & Compliance for the Universal Healthcare Group. Her involvement in the US claims market includes privacy legislation and the implementation of information security measures.
Through her exposure within legal practice and the healthcare sector she has gained extensive exposure across a broad range of areas, including compliance, regulation, governance, risk management, contracts, information technology, intellectual property, information security, internal audit as well as healthcare and privacy legislation.
She has extensive experience in SA, US and EU privacy and data legislation. This includes the South African Protection of Personal Information Act No. 4 of 2013 (“POPIA”) since inception, the American Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and related regulations (“HIPAA”), the American Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (“HITECH”), as well as the European Union Directive on the Protection of Individuals with Regard to the Processing of Personal Data and on the Free Movement of Such Data (which has now been replaced by the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”)).
Karen also has extensive experience in the implementation of governance and control standards. During her career she had been responsible for the establishment and maintenance of a formal quality management system that has been ISO 9001 certified for over a period of 16 years now.
Dr Anban Pillay currently holds the position of Deputy Director General for National Health Insurance at the National Department of Health.
He is also a member of the board of the Medicines Patent Pool, Unicef Advisory Board and the TB Market Shaping Action Group.
Dr. Pillay’s responsibilities include medicine policy and regulation as well as the National Health Insurance policy.. He earned his PhD from the University of Newcastle, Australia and also holds a Masters of Clinical Pharmacology from the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine and a Bachelors of Pharmacy from the University of KwaZulu Natal.
Dr Liana Roodt is a specialist general surgeon with a passion for cutting-edge breast care and surgery including breast conserving cancer surgery. Evidence-based medicine and rigorous surgical discipline form the foundation of her practice, but what differentiates her is her drive to provide truly integrated and holistic patient care. She aims to offer not just surgery but access to a complete package of breast and personal health.
Liana matriculated in 1999 with distinction from the Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool (AHMP) in Pretoria where she was head girl. She obtained her MBChB from the University of Pretoria in 2006. During her time as medical student, she not only excelled academically but also made her mark as student leader – she served on the medical student curriculum committee as student representative from 2004-2006 and was chair of the medical student council in 2006. Liana was honored to receive an award of excellence in leadership and service from the University of Pretoria in the same year.
After graduating, Liana completed her internship at Groote Schuur Hospital in 2008 and community service in Barberton, Mpumalanga, in 2009. After returning to Cape Town, she worked at GF Jooste Hospital as a surgical medical officer while also completing a post graduate certificate in Integrative Medicine at the University of Stellenbosch. It was during this time that she created Project Flamingo (www.projectflamingo.co.za), a successful non-profit company, to address the long and distressing treatment waiting time faced by breast cancer patients in the public health care sector. Project Flamingo puts into physical form her belief that breast cancer patients, regardless of their socio-economic circumstances, need more than just an operation: they need timely and compassionate care.
Dr Tamlyn Eslie Roman works for the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) as manager of the cancer programme, which provides technical support to the National Department of Health. She has a PhD in health economics with research having been focused on decision-making space for hospital managers in tertiary hospitals. She has also undertaken research in collaboration with global institutions including Johns Hopkins University and the World Health Organisation Health Financing Department. Her previous appointments were with the Open Society of South Africa and in the Health Fnancing Division at CHAI.
After graduating, Liana completed her internship at Groote Schuur Hospital in 2008 and community service in Barberton, Mpumalanga, in 2009. After returning to Cape Town, she worked at GF Jooste Hospital as a surgical medical officer while also completing a post graduate certificate in Integrative Medicine at the University of Stellenbosch. It was during this time that she created Project Flamingo (www.projectflamingo.co.za), a successful non-profit company, to address the long and distressing treatment waiting time faced by breast cancer patients in the public health care sector. Project Flamingo puts into physical form her belief that breast cancer patients, regardless of their socio-economic circumstances, need more than just an operation: they need timely and compassionate care.
Born Namibian, and have worked in executive positions for an international gas supply company, Afrox for 23 years before joining the medical aid industry in 1999.
Being a team player, leading and managing people are some of his key strengths and he is a results-oriented and task focused person. As demonstrated by the experience he has gained in diverse industries he adapts easily in new environments. As he believes in the importance to stakeholder relationship he spent endless effort in engaging with stakeholders to work together in building their respective industries.
Within the healthcare sector in Namibia he is a past president of Namaf (Namibian Association of Medical Aid Funds in Namibia). Served on BHF Board of Directors of Southern Africa for various terms since 2002 to date. He is actively involved in facilitating the relationship building and stakeholders relationships in the Namibian healthcare industry.
Jenny Edge is a general surgeon working as head of the unit of breast and endocrine surgery in the division of surgery, Tygerberg Hospital. I hold a position of lecturer at Stellenbosch University (SU). My job falls into 4 areas: clinical work, administration, teaching and research.
The unit is busy, managing patients with breast disease, (approximately 600 breast cancer cases/year), thyroid, parathyroid, NET and adrenal disorders. The unit also manages patients with benign parotid disease, soft tissue sarcomas and melanomas. There are 2 full time surgeons, one part time and 2 registrars. Tygerberg Hospital is the tertiary hospital for a large geographical area so some of my time is spent in secondary hospitals, ensuring they can manage some of the clinical load.
The unit teaches both undergraduate students (4th and 5th year medical students in groups of 16-20) and post graduate registrars. Last year was the inaugural annual oncoplastic surgery course for surgeons from secondary hospitals. This year will be the inaugural SU nurses training programme for registered nurses. It is the first of its kind in Sub Saharan Africa.
Kristin is an Actuary and a Certified Financial Planner and holds a healthcare practising certificate issued by the Actuarial Society of South Africa. Kristin has nine years’ experience in actuarial and strategic consulting to medical schemes on benefit and contribution design, policy development, pricing and overall strategy, as well as healthcare-related research and thought leadership. She is currently employed as a Lead Specialist in Business Conduct Risk within the Actuarial and Risk team at Liberty Group and has served as a member-elected trustee on the Libcare Medical Scheme since June 2017.
Prof Joel Dave completed his training as a Physician and Endocrinologist at Groote Schuur Hospital. After spending 8 years in private practice he returned to Groote Schuur Hospital and the University of Cape Town in September 2016 as a Senior Specialist in the Division of Endocrinology. In September 2018 he was promoted to the Head of the Division of Endocrinology. Prof Dave is actively involved in research and the teaching and examining of undergraduate and postgraduate students. He particularly enjoys participating in continuing medical education activities with other healthcare professionals.
Dr Rajesh Narwal is the Health Systems Advisor at the World Health Organization- country office for South Africa. His current work is focussed on strengthening Health governance and financing policies, integrated people-centred service delivery, Human resources and health intelligence aimed at promoting Universal Health Coverage in South Africa.
In past, Dr Narwal has worked at leadership positions with the WHO and Ministry of Health in India, Medical Emergency Relief International-UK, Centres for Disease Control-USA and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, leading the work on health systems strengthening, health policy and research, conceptualization and management of ingenious public health, emergency and development programmes in South Asia, Middle East and Africa. Dr Narwal is a medical doctor and earned his Master’s Degree in Public Health from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Masimba Mareverwa is currently the Head of Marketing at Insight Actuaries & Consultants. In addition to his role at Insight, Masimba is one of the youngest members of the Actuarial Society’s Healthcare Committee.
Over the past nine years he has worked widely in the health sector consulting to medical schemes, insurers and provider groups. This diversity and depth of experience has allowed him to garner an acute understanding of the challenges that face the healthcare system as well as the ability to develop solutions to these complex challenges.
Masimba has a keen interest in the use of data to drive business growth, efficiencies and to solve social problems across the continent. He holds a BSc (Hons) from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Since 2008 Yogan has been the Deputy Director-General for health programmes in the national Department of Health. Prior to his appointment as DDG he held the positions of chief director for strategic planning and director for the district health system – all in the national Department of Health. He holds a PhD in public health from Johns Hopkins University.
He has authored or co-authored more than 60 peer-reviewed journal articles and has co-authored two textbooks (The Textbook of International Health, 2009; The Textbook of Global Health, 2017).
He has been a member of the Scientific and Technical Advisory committees for TB and HIV of the WHO. He co-chaired the HIV treatment guidelines committee of the WHO in 2015/16. He served as a member of the Boards of AMREF (SA), the Health Systems Trust, the BIOVAC Institute, and the National Health Laboratory Service. He is currently a member of the board of trustees of the South African National AIDS Council and the board of the Council for Medical Schemes of South Africa. In addition, he serves on the scientific advisory boards of UNAIDS and the TB Alliance.
He has been a member of the ministerial committee on national health insurance and continues to lead the national effort to develop service benefits for various levels of care.
In 2018 he was awarded the Karel Styblo Medallion and presented with a certificate of appreciation for leadership in the global fight against tuberculosis by KNCV.
Sarah is an experienced health care actuary with a diversity of experience, including consulting, reinsurance, life & health, product development, strategy, policy, Business Intelligence (BI) and managed care. Sarah has 24 years of health care experience, including 8 years of international health care experience when she was based in the UK with Deloitte and then Swiss Re. Sarah has been with Medscheme for over five years and leads the Actuarial Oversight Team within the Health Intelligence Unit and enjoys the innovation, thought leadership and diversity associated with health care reporting and advanced analytics, including alternative reimbursement models. Sarah has an active interest in behaviour change associated with lifestyle diseases and has recently been studying Low Carb High Fat (‘LCHF’) as medical nutrition therapy for diabetes and presented on this topic at the International Actuarial Association Colloquium in April 2019.
Dr Ngozwana is an international expert on the African Pharmaceutical industry, who has served as a consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the United States Pharmacopeia Convention (USP) among others. As the International lead consultant for UNIDO, Dr. Ngozwana co-authored the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan for Africa that was adopted by the African Union heads of state and government in 2012. The plan was the output of the extensive research and analytical work he conducted on the African pharmaceutical industry. His recent UN assignment was as part of an expert team of three appointed by WHO to develop the Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Sector Strategy and Action Plan. This document was adopted by the Ethiopian government as a blueprint for developing the Ethiopian pharmaceutical sector; and is now incorporated into the Ethiopian Growth and Transformation Plan II. His last assignment with UNIDO involved the development of Ghana’s Pharmaceutical Sector Development Strategy; and for USP, the development of a Thought Leadership Paper (pending publication) titled, The Next Frontiers for the Public Health Medicines Market: Rethinking priorities for improved access to quality-assured medicines for universal access.
Dr Ngozwana has extensive contacts and networks through the African pharmaceutical and healthcare landscape, with regulators, procurement bodies, industry and various leading key opinion leaders. Prior to his consulting career, he worked for then JSE listed Cipla Medpro as its Deputy Chief Executive Officer. He is passionate about the development of the African pharmaceutical industry; access to quality assured medicines on the continent and has made significant contributions in developing the Industry. Further:
- He is the Founder, President & Chief Executive Officer of Kiara Health, and played an instrumental role in signing exclusive licenses for various innovative medical technologies for the sub-Saharan market. He has got extensive experience in introducing new medical technologies to the African market, including mobilizing Key Opinion leaders, getting products licensed with regulatory authorities, and listing them with private medical insurance schemes for reimbursement.
- He is Chairman of the board of Directors of Biovac (a South African based Vaccine manufacturer – and a Public Private Partnership).
- He is on the board of Foundation NEXT (www.next2people.org); a Geneva based organization pioneering a new model of community-based care in the treatment of Tuberculosis across various African countries
- He is the former Chairman of the National Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers of South Africa (NAPM) and led the NAPM into the International Generic Medicines Alliance (IGPA), where he was an EXCO member.
- He is the founding chairman of the Southern African Generic Medicines Association; and founding member of the board of the Federation of African Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (FAPMA); both of which he continues to serve as a board member.