UCT Inaugural Lecture: Professor Lebogang Ramma

Dear colleagues and students

The University of Cape Town (UCT) Inaugural Lecture series will resume in February 2024. I am therefore pleased to invite you to the first lecture for 2024 in this series, which will be delivered by Professor Lebogang Ramma. The lecture is titled “Hearing the Call – Trading Epistemic Curiosity for Contextual Relevance in Audiology”.

The inaugural lectures are a central part of academic life and provide a platform for recently appointed professors to share insights into their activities and achievements. The lectures also provide the university with an opportunity to showcase our academics and share our research with members of the wider university community and the general public in an accessible way.

Professor Ramma is a professor of audiology in the Faculty of Health Sciences at UCT, and he is recognised nationally for his work in the prevention of treatment-induced hearing loss (ototoxicity).

In his lecture, Professor Ramma will share his experience regarding the challenges of trying to balance a research agenda informed mainly by academic interests versus the responsibility of generating basic knowledge that helps advance the field of audiology in South Africa and beyond.

He will reflect on his research, teaching and social responsiveness work in relation to his area of interest: acquired hearing loss. He will also provide insight into his efforts to support the initiation and development of training programmes for audiologists in Africa.

Professor Ramma has led a national initiative to prevent treatment-induced hearing loss in patients undergoing treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis and a Health Professions Council of South Africa’s (HPCSA) task team to develop contextually relevant guidelines for audiological management of patients on treatment that includes ototoxic drugs.

A respected scholar, Professor Ramma was a key member of the curriculum review team in the Division of Communication Sciences and Disorders, which led to the incorporation of public health principles into the audiology curriculum at UCT. In addition to his role as a professor of audiology, he is active in other aspects of professional education and training in South Africa. He is the incumbent chairperson of the Speech-Language and Hearing Board of the HPCSA, and he chairs the Education, Training and Quality Assurance Committee of the council.

Professor Ramma is also a member of the Institutional Audit Committee of the Council on Higher Education. Internationally, he is a member of the International Ototoxicity Management Group and the World Health Organization’s World Hearing Forum.

He is passionate about educating and training audiologists in Africa. He played a significant role in the development of the audiology programme at the University of Zimbabwe. He has also contributed to initiatives to develop audiology training in Botswana and Nigeria. Furthermore, he has contributed to the development of the National Ear and Hearing Plan in Zambia.

Please join us for this lecture.

Date: Thursday, 1 February 2024
Venue: Neuroscience Institute Auditorium, Groote Schuur Hospital
Time: 17:30 SAST

• Please register to attend the lecture.

Sincerely

Emer Prof Daya Reddy
Vice-Chancellor interim

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