Discovery Foundation alumnus, Professor Mushi Matjila, to head University of Cape Town's Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department

His Discovery Foundation-funded research in 2008 helped change the direction of local maternal-health research - and halved the number of suspected high-risk preeclampsia (a serious blood pressure condition that develops during pregnancy) patients admitted to South African hospitals.

Preeclampsia was usually diagnosed from 20 weeks onward. But, thanks to his work using molecular markers (changes that show the likelihood of the patient developing preeclampsia), it can now be diagnosed as early as 12 weeks.

Career path

Professor Matjila spent 15 years as a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Groote Schuur Hospital. Here, he provided specialist and sub-specialist clinical services at the hospital's Maternity Centre. He also trained undergraduate specialists and sub-specialists. His clinical interests were high-risk obstetrics, reproductive medicine and recurrent pregnancy loss.

His research involves the molecular aspects of aberrant placentation, as well as maternal-foetal dialogue in placental-based disorders such as preeclampsia, recurrent pregnancy loss, gestational diabetes mellitus and assisted reproduction.

Professor Matjila is the founding member and first chairperson of the Departmental Transformation Committee (Obstetrics and Gynaecology), and previously served on the Faculty of Health Sciences Transformation Committee. He serves on many national general research and obstetric and gynaecology committees, journals and editorial boards, and advises the government on policy and practice.

Making a real difference

By tackling preeclampsia, South Africa's second leading cause of maternal death, he's helped reverse a rising trend. Death secondary to hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in South Africa increased by 14.8% in the 2014-2016 reporting period alone (with 213 women dying each year). South Africa's institutional maternal mortality rate (iMMR), dropped in under a decade, from between 130 and 140 deaths for every 100,000 live births to just 12.7. Professor Matjila is fond of quoting his mother, a former communications lecturer at the North-West Technikon, as saying: "If there's one thing that's going to change your life and country, it's education."

Message from the Discovery Foundation Chair, Dr Vincent Maphai

"We express our heartfelt congratulations to Professor Matjila, who has demonstrated what hard work and persistent scientific sleuthing can achieve in saving and changing lives, from birth to a woman's reproductive years. May he go from strength to strength."