Professor Mathildah Mokgatle, the Head of Department of Public Health at SMU, in the Faculty of Health Care Sciences, has been appointed as a new member of the National Health Research Committee of (NHRC) by Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla for the term 2023-2026. The appointment took effect from 01 July 2023.
She is participating in the broad NHRC and serves in two sub- committees which are the Innovation and Research translation, and Monitoring and Evaluation.
She holds a Doctoral degree in Educational Psychology and a Master of Public Health with expertise in the areas of Biostatistics, Social and Behavioural Health Sciences, and Health Systems Management. She possesses over 32 years of professional experience in care services and 23 of those years were spent in academia. “Besides working in academia for most of my career, I always wanted to contribute and apply my public health expertise at all levels of the health care system. Having served in the Ministerial Advisory Committee for Covid-19 from March 2020 to June 2023, I was invited by the National Department of Health through a call for nominations, and I took the opportunity to join and serve in the National Health Research Committee. Since this was a nomination, I received letters of support from two senior academics who are familiar with my work and outputs from the School of Health Care Sciences (SHCS)”, Prof Mokgatle explained.
The specification required nominees to have expertise and experience in research management, basic research, clinical research, public health and policy research, health system research, social science research or any other health-related research, and community leadership, and her career profile met the requirements.
As a member of the NHRC Prof Mokgatle will be responsible for identifying research for health priorities and advice the Minister on application and implementation thereof, determine research to be carried out by public health authorities, Co-ordinate the research activities of public health authorities and ensure that health research agendas and research resources focus on key health problems.
Prof. Mokgatle indicated that being a member of the NHRC is an achievement for her and more importantly for the University as her participation will ensure she makes a contribution towards guiding the National Department of Health in identifying health research priorities concerning the burden of disease; the cost- effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing the burden of disease; the availability of human and institutional resources for the implementation of an intervention at the level closest to the affected communities; the health needs of vulnerable groups such as women, older persons, children and people with disabilities; and the health needs of communities. Her role will ensure that SMU, through the Research Directorate, will have current information regarding the National Health Research Agenda, priority projects and activities in line with the national plans.
Prof Mokgatle explained that working and teaching in Public Health is a bit tricky because many important priority health research areas need attention and solutions by individual experts. “The diversity of issues and demand for responsiveness especially with disease outbreaks and epidemics needs one to strike the balance of being a specialist within a defined niche area and providing service and adding to the general public health body of knowledge. It took me time and effort to deliver at a broad public health spectrum and to build a specific portfolio that defines me in the area of social epidemiology, prevention and control of HIV and sexually transmitted infections”, Prof Mokgatle explained.
She believes that hard work and being open-minded is crucial for everything once people have identified the direction they want to take for their careers. “Allowing collaboration and developing networks for research puts your expertise out in the public and that attracts beneficial relationships and recognition. I opened myself up for volunteering and giving back through serving in academic, provincial and national committees. My name came up as appointable from the nominations since I have been interacting with the National Department of Health through the MAC for Covid-19, the Provincial Covid-19 outbreak team, being a keynote speaker and journal reviewer in the National Health Research Congress and the 2022 Annual Health Report”, Prof Mokgatle advised.
