Dr Nivisha Parag is an Emergency Medicine Physician and Subspecialist Intensivist. She works in a multidisciplinary adult intensive care unit in private practice in Kwa-Zulu Natal. She is passionate about point-of-care ultrasound technologies and techniques, and co-founded the Cardio-Respiratory Ultrasound Experience (CRUSE) course in 2018. As an MBA, she also contributes to management and leadership education for healthcare professionals.
Dr Richard von Rahden is an Anaesthesiologist and Intensivist. He is currently in Private Practice with Jones, Bhagwan and Partners in Pietermaritzburg. He completed his undergraduate training and speciality training in Anaesthesiology at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He was trained as an Intensivist at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital ICU from 2001 to 2007. From 2007 to 2019 he supervised the tertiary Intensive Care Unit at Greys Hospital, Pietermaritzburg. His primary interests are mechanical respiratory support and resuscitation of shock states.
Professor Ames Dhai is the Founder and Past Director of the Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics at Wits University (2007–2019) and a Professor of Bioethics and Health Law at the Wits School of Clinical Medicine. She is a member of the Academy of Science South Africa (ASSAf) and the immediate past Chairperson of the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee.
Currently, she chairs multiple ethics and advisory panels, including those for the SAMRC, HSRC, and SANBS. She is also Vice Chair of the SA Medical Association Board and serves on various national and international bioethics committees. Previously, she was Vice-Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Committee for COVID-19 Vaccines and held key roles in health research ethics councils.
Professor Dhai has contributed to global policy through organizations like WHO, UNESCO, and the World Medical Association. She is Editor-in-Chief of the South African Journal of Bioethics and Law and Acting Editor of the South African Medical Journal. An internationally accredited mediator, she has significantly shaped bioethics and human rights in South Africa through academia, advocacy, and extensive publications. Originally trained as a medical doctor and obstetrician-gynaecologist, she later specialized in bioethics and health law.
Michael Pienaar is a paediatric intensivist and Universitas Academic and Pelonomi Tertiary Hospitals in Bloemfontein. He is an associate professor in Paediatrics and Child Health in the School of Clinical Medicine of the University of the Free State. He holds a PhD in Paediatrics from the University of the Free State. His research focusses on applied machine learning in critical care. He has authored sixteen peer reviewed publications His clinical interests are in mechanical ventilation, trauma and point of care ultrasonography.
Dr Alekar specialist physician and intensivist employed since June 2021 as Head of Clinical Unit as well as joint head of the Medical Acute Care Unit (MACU) in the Department of Medicine at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Gauteng Province. After completion of his Internal Medicine specialisation in 2006, he worked as a consultant in the Department of Medicine and the Main ICU of Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, where he completed his fellowship in critical care. Shabbir was in charge of the in-house academic programme for the ICU, including training on CRRT for doctors and nurses. He then worked as Head of ICU at Sebokeng Hospital, gaining extensive experience in acute and critical care medicine at a regional hospital level, before transferring to the Internal Medicine department at CH Baragwanath.
Head of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care at Walter Sisulu University and Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital, since 2014, previously a senior specialist in the ICU at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital since 2007. The work encompasses Anaesthesiology and ICU, outreach services to support surgical work in the regional and district hospitals in the Eastern Cape’s OR Tambo and Alfred Nzo regions. My role includes advisory to the Department of Health and the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences in matters related to Safe Surgery, Critical Care and Post graduate specialist training in the region.
Professor Richards is Emeritus Professor of Critical Care and Pulmonology at the University of the Witwatersrand.
He qualified in medicine in 1978, specialised in internal Medicine in 1985 and subsequently qualified as a pulmonologist and intensivist. He attained his PhD in Medicine in 1992 and was elected to the Academy of Science of South Africa in 2020. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the SA Thoracic Society in 2022.
He was awarded the Mandela Medal in Gold by the president for distinguished service related to the passing of Nelson Mandela in 2014. He has been awarded best research paper and best publication on a number of occasions at congresses of the SA Thoracic Society and the SA Critical Care Society of Southern Africa, most recently in 2023
