Personal statement

I am a psychologist and qualified clinical social worker with a PhD in Psychology and more than 30 years’ experience spanning clinical practice, public and mental health research, evidence-based implementation, and global health. My work sits at the intersection of trauma, violence, mental health and social determinants of health, with a particular focus on children, adolescents and caregivers living in resource-constrained settings.

My research and practice have focused extensively on the impact of trauma and violence across the life course, the development and evaluation of evidence-based interventions, adolescent mental health, and implementation science. I have published more than 40 peer-reviewed papers and have a strong commitment to translating research into interventions, policy and practice that improve health and wellbeing.

For 12 years, I was based at the Institute of Life Course Health Research (ILCHR), Stellenbosch University, where I served as Director of the Masiphuhlisane Research Centre in one of South Africa’s most severely impoverished communities. Working through international partnerships with UCLA, the University of Bath, University College London, Queen’s University Belfast and others, I led research and capacity-building initiatives addressing trauma, violence, mental health and health inequities. I have also delivered international research training workshops on behalf of UNICEF and WHO and held visiting research fellowships at Queen’s University and the University of Bath.

In 2021, I joined the University of Cape Town (UCT) as Executive Director of SHAWCO and Associate Professor at the Division of Global Surgery in the Faculty of Health Sciences. This work expanded my focus on the social determinants of health and on building models of community engagement and intervention that have relevance both locally and internationally.

I have also contributed to health research leadership at a continental level.

In 2022, I was appointed to the Expert Committee of Africa CDC responsible for developing and rolling out an African Continental Health Research Prioritisation Framework. This work reflects my commitment to supporting African-led, decolonial research agendas and strengthening the capacity of health systems and researchers across the continent.

I currently serve as Lead Intervention Consultant to the Vodacom Foundation, supporting the national scale-up of an adolescent violence prevention intervention developed by our team at Stellenbosch University in partnership with an adolescent advisory board. The programme is being implemented across 26 Schools of Excellence and surrounding communities in South Africa, providing an important bridge between research, implementation and population-level violence prevention.

In 2024, I moved to Scotland to work at the University of Strathclyde in the Department of Social Work and Social Policy. My roles focus on teaching, developing international partnerships and networks, supporting transnational research grants, and mentoring early-career researchers and PhD students to generate international, intersectoral and impactful health policy and practice. I remain an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at UCT and continue to lead collaborative research across the UK and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Across these roles, my work brings together clinical expertise in trauma, violence and mental health, research and implementation science, community engagement, health policy, and international health leadership. I am particularly committed to collaborative approaches that connect universities, governments, communities, industry and third-sector organisations to address trauma, violence and health inequities—and to ensuring that research translates into meaningful, sustainable change.