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Meeting highlights:
- Ntobeko Ntusi’s mission and priorities for SAMRC: Steer the organization systematically to address current challenges such as the colonization of global health, the climate crisis, the rising tide of NCDs in Africa, such as cardiovascular diseases, mental health, AMR, among others.
- SAMRC’s footprint in South Africa: largest local funder of health research, medical diagnostics, medical devices, and therapeutics / Research arm of the government.
- SAMRC fostering local and international collaborations to accelerate research and innovation across the continent.
- The strategic importance of South Africa: a hub for clinical trials, contributing to global science, top-tier researchers, high resilience, and diversity.
EF: What mission did you set for yourself, and what are SAMRC’s current priorities?
NN: When I decided to apply for this position, I felt that my application needed to be based on understanding current trends and crises in public health and global health. These include a crisis of governance in healthcare, both domestically and globally, as well as an important narrative around the decolonization of global healthcare. Additionally, there is a planetary crisis where climate emergencies impact healthcare, livelihoods, and lives, especially in low and middle-income countries. This is alongside a rising tide of non-communicable diseases.
Infections have historically been the leading cause of death in the global South. However, we are now seeing a trend in many countries where non-communicable disorders, such as cardiovascular disease, mental health issues, and chronic lung disease, are beginning to surpass infections as the leading cause of mortality. I believe that for a long time, many societies will need to address the dual challenges of both infections and non-communicable diseases and their intersection. How we position ourselves to address these challenges is crucial.
Additionally, I find the digital health trend and the rise of AI applied to all aspects of the research and healthcare value chain very exciting. Lastly, considering antimicrobial resistance concerning epidemic infections like HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria, as well as many neglected conditions, I thought it would be timely to join the organization and steer it in a slightly different direction. This would involve systematically addressing these emerging and important challenges to global healthcare.
EF: What is your view of the national Med-tech plan, and how will it impact South Africa and SAMRC? How will we be able to keep health as a top priority?
NN: The work of the SAMRC, established in 1969, focuses on improving people's health in South Africa through health research, innovation, development, and technology transfer. Its efforts primarily target the quadruple burden of disease: maternal, newborn, and child health; epidemic infections like HIV and tuberculosis; non-communicable diseases; and trauma and interpersonal violence.
Additionally, the SAMRC has developed comprehensive systems for evaluating the country's disease burden and adopts a scholarly approach to health systems research. As the President of the SAMRC, I hope to guide the organization in a slightly new direction, continuing our current focus areas and exploring new ones. The SAMRC is deeply integrated with the government, engaging closely with the Ministry of Health and the Office of the Presidency. I provide quarterly reports to Parliament on the state of health research and healthcare in the country, incorporating feedback to improve our programs continuously.
The SAMRC also innovates around research through close engagement with civil society and NGOs working in healthcare. Besides funding university research, we maintain strategic relationships with institutions of higher learning, embedding ourselves in every aspect of the healthcare landscape. A key concern with any new government is how they will prioritize health and health research. I believe the incoming government recognizes the importance of a healthy nation for the country's economic well-being.
My goal is to maintain a close working relationship with the Treasury, consistently highlighting the value proposition of health research. Health researchers are a fundamental investment for the country's prospects, and I am optimistic that the new government will continue to support our work.
EF: How are you increasing collaborations to address these pressing issues, and are there any collaboration success stories you can share with us?
NN: There are many successful collaborations. The SAMRC is the largest funder of medical diagnostics, medical devices, and medical therapeutics. In our work, we not only conduct our research and lead our innovation, but we also collaborate nationally with other science councils such as the National Research Foundation, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, the CSIR (Center for Scientific and Industrial Research), and the Human Sciences Research Council.
Additionally, we have very close working relationships with all the universities in the country. Many of our research initiatives are done in collaboration with global funding partners, including the National Institutes of Health in the US, the Wellcome Trust in the UK, the UK Medical Research Council, the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
We also work closely with government research funding bodies from many countries throughout Europe, such as Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium, as well as from Asia, including China, Japan, and South Korea. These collaborations have led to numerous successes, impacting South African health research and increasingly benefiting the region as we invite other African researchers to join these partnerships.
EF: How do you plan to capitalize on new technologies to innovate and remain the leader in innovation as the largest funder?
NN: The SAMRC leads pioneering work in several areas, including genomic research, the development of novel therapeutics and vaccines, diagnostic tools, and new treatments. We have a keen interest in the role of AI across the entire value chain of our innovations. Recently, we partnered with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and launched a major call for projects about a few months ago, which received many applications from across the African continent. These projects use AI for data curation, knowledge transfer to diagnostic platforms, risk stratification tools, prognostication, outcome prediction, and simplifying clinical pathways. Looking ahead, we plan to issue several focused calls on different aspects of machine learning related to various healthcare domains.
EF: How can we raise awareness of the importance of continuing and fostering innovation in the country? How would you rate the current level of innovation in Africa compared to the rest of the world?
NN: There is already a lot of innovation happening, and I truly believe that necessity is the mother of invention. Whenever I travel across Africa, I see incredible solutions people devise daily to adapt to their challenges. Unfortunately, these innovations are not always publicized, so many remain unaware. The SAMRC is committed to supporting innovation through a programmatic approach that includes blue skies research, basic sciences research, translational research into clinical studies and trials, and population-based research.
We increasingly support innovation that engages the natural sciences with behavioural and social sciences and the humanities. Our recently funded projects have a strong multidisciplinary flavour and reflect an expanded view of the research value chain. We support research for its intrinsic value, relevance, and likely impact, aligning with our holistic view of innovation.
EF: What do you think makes South Africa so valuable for further investment? What would you like to see for the future of South Africa's overall health system?
NN: I would craft the value proposition for investing in the health research landscape in South Africa around 3 key domains. Firstly, we have highly trained basic scientists and clinicians who work closely together, allowing us to address fundamental health questions comprehensively.
Secondly, our strength lies in the diversity of our society, the variety of pathologies, and the diverse approaches we employ in health research. Thirdly, the South African health research landscape is characterized by remarkable resilience. From leading research on poverty and infections to pioneering work on HIV and tuberculosis, South African scientists have consistently achieved groundbreaking results despite facing significant challenges. Their persistence and success in such an environment are unparalleled. This resilience, combined with our diversity and collaborative capabilities, underscores the value of South Africa as a hub for health research and innovation.
EF: Do you have any final message for our readers?
NN: I would emphasize that despite our location at the tip of the African continent, South African science is highly developed. We have built on our strengths in infectious diseases, demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, by discovering several novel variants and establishing one of the world's most advanced genomic surveillance platforms for COVID-19. Despite relatively modest investment, our contributions to global science show that we punch well above our weight and produce high-calibre research.
