UCT Inaugural Lecture: Professor Salome Maswime

Dear colleagues and students

It gives me great pleasure to invite you to the fifth lecture in the UCT Inaugural Lecture series, which will be presented by Professor Salome Maswime.

Professor Maswime’s lecture is titled “From caesarean section related complications to global surgical systems strengthening”. Caesarean sections are the most widely performed surgery in the world. Yet African women are 50 times more likely to die from caesarean section complications than women in high-income countries.

Research shows that a billion people in Africa do not have access to safe and timely surgery. This is the focus of global surgery – a relatively new and inspiring interdisciplinary field of enquiry, research, practice and advocacy. This field aims to strengthen surgical systems, improve health outcomes and achieve health equity for all people who need surgical, obstetric and anaesthesia care, with a special emphasis on underserved, marginalised populations and those in crisis.

Professor Maswime is the head of the Global Surgery Division and she was recently appointed as steering committee chair of the University of the Future project. She is also the president of the South African Clinician Scientists Society.

She was the Discovery MGH research fellow in 2018 at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and she is a former lecturer at Wits University. She has worked in various hospitals in South Africa, including the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto, Johannesburg, for approximately 10 years.

Professor Maswime is a renowned global surgery expert because of her research contributions to caesarean sections. She advocates for women’s health rights and equity in surgical and maternal care. She is an advisor and consultant to several institutions, including the World Health Organization. She has received numerous awards for her commitment to maternal health and ongoing research in maternal health.

Date: Wednesday, 12 July 2023
Venue: Venue TBC
Time: 17:00 SAST

• Please register to attend the lecture by Professor Maswime.

Sincerely

Emer Prof Daya Reddy
Vice-Chancellor (interim)

Read previous communications:

• From the UCT Executive
• Campus Announcements