As a Haemato-Pathologist my primary research interest is in HIV related lymphomas. As a consequence of this enquiry, I spearheaded a research group that studied lymphomas as it became evident that we were experiencing a surge in HIV associated complex lymphoma pathology in our laboratory. As people with HIV on Antiretroviral treatment live longer, research nationally and internationally has demonstrated a rise in certain lymphomas that occur as a consequence of infection with HIV, amongst other pathogenetic mechanisms. Understanding the pathophysiology of these lymphomas in our population specifically is of paramount importance as oncology management practices move towards targeted therapy.

Thus and in keeping abreast with current international research I aim to investigate the role of Precision/ Personalised Medicine in Pathology, specifically focusing on the detection of biomarkers for diagnosis, prognostication and management of HIV related lymphomas in South Africa and other African countries.

Our first aim is to setup an African Precision Oncology group with a mission to identify the different molecular (genomic, proteomic) profiles within cancer types, and assess the effectiveness of proposed drugs and therapies. Thus providing African pathologists with clinical decision tools to classify patient’s tumor by molecular profile, and provide the most suitable existing therapy. We have expanded the group with a bioinformatics scientist who is supervising two students on algorithms for precision oncology.