Annual Report 2008


From the Director


It is again a great pleasure to present the 2008 annual report of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD). Over the past year the Institute has grown most gratifyingly. At the end of 2008, the NICD had a staff compliment of 239 employed through our parent body the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS). In addition, 77 were employed on research contracts as well as a student body of some 34. Space to accommodate the growing NICD population is now becoming a rather urgent challenge.

The output of the Institute in terms of the 3 main functions of the NHLS, that is, service, training and research has been highly satisfactory, as reflected in the pages of this report. Our own staff has excelled in their own right but the input has also been a team effort with many partners throughout the country and internationally in many parts of the world. The NICD enjoys numerous collaborations and bilateral agreements with major institutions and organisations involved in global public health.

2007 Annual Report
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and download the NICD Annual report for 2007
in pdf format.
The biennial NICD Academic Day took place on the 11th November 2008 and provided a opportunity for the staff and students of the NICD to showcase their research output through oral presentations and numerous high quality posters. On the previous evening, 10th November, the annual James Gear Memorial Lecture was delivered by Professor Bob Swanepoel, former Head and presently a consultant to the NICD Special Pathogens Unit, entitled: “Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers 3 decades of tracking killer viruses in Africa and abroad”.


Figure 1: Dr Janusz Paweska (left) and Professor Barry Schoub (right) with Professor Robert Swanepoel who delivered the James Gear Memorial lecture

Several building projects on the NICD campus commenced or have progressed through 2008. The upgrading of the BSL-4 maximum security laboratory as well as the National TB Reference Laboratory is nearing completion and both should be commissioned during 2009.

I am proud to announce that a number of our staff and students graduated during 2008 and are to be congratulated on their fine achievements:

Name Degree University
Anthony Fiona Cengimbo Ayanda MSc Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (DTM&H) Witwatersrand Witwatersrand
Coleman Marlize PhD Witwatersrand
Crowther Penny Donninger Samantha MSc Med in Epidemiology and Biostatistics MSc (with distinction) Witwatersrand Witwatersrand
Gray Elin Mans Janet PhD PhD Witwatersrand Witwatersrand
Matambo Tonderayi Mtandu Rugola Nieuwoudt Marthi PhD MSc Epidemiology MSc Witwatersrand Witwatersrand Pretoria
Okoye Patricia Ruis Adrienne PhD BSc Hons Witwatersrand Witwatersrand
Sacks David BSc. Hons Witwatersrand
Stradi Melanie BSc. Hons Witwatersrand
Suchard Melinda MMed Witwatersrand
Trataris Anastasia Natasha Vezhenego Sam Wibmer Constantinos Kurt MSc (Med) Dissertation MSc BSc. Hons Witwatersrand Witwatersrand Witwatersrand

In addition the first class of the South African Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme (SAFELTP) which commenced in the beginning of 2007, graduated with an MPH degree. Congratulations are also extended to those members of staff who received awards and promotions during the year.

Finally it remains for me to extend a very sincere thanks to all of our staff who have put so much dedication and enthusiasm into their work to make the NICD the success that it is. It is with much gratitude that I would like to record our appreciation to our parent body the NHLS who have looked after this Institute and promoted its interests so extraordinarily well. We also record our sincere thanks to the National Department of Health for its support as well as the generous support received from a host of research donors Nationally: the Poliomyelitis Research Foundation, Medical Research Council, National Research Foundation, South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative and the Human Sciences Research Council and Internationally: the CDC, WHO, Wellcome Trust, ANRS, FIND, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bristol-Myers Squibb. Secure-the-Future, Canadian Africa Prevention Trial Network (CAPT), Center for HIV AIDS Vaccine Immunology (CHAVI), FIT Biotech, HIV Vaccines Trial Network (HVTN), National Institutes of Health (NIH) and University of Pennsylvania.



Figure 2: The Director, Professor Barry Schoub (left), with Dr Roger Glass, Director, Fogarty International Center and Associate Director for International Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.

The NICD looks forward to making a very significant and meaningful contribution to public health in 2009 and the future.

BARRY D SCHOUB
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
ANNUAL REPORT 2007 CONTENTS
Section 1 Pdf document
Cover page 806 kb
Address page
Contents
Director's Report
Organogram
 
MICROBIOLOGY DIVISION
download the entire Microbiology Division here (1.6Mb)
Enteric Diseases Reference Unit 342 kb
External Quality Assessment Unit 259 kb
Mycology Reference Unit 354 kb
National Microbiology Surveillance Unit 402 kb
Parasitology Reference Unit 356 kb
Respiratory & Meningeal Pathogens Reference Unit 519 kb
Sexually Transmitted Infections Reference Centre 276 kb
Special Bacterial Pathogens Reference Unit 701 kb
Vector Control Reference Unit 353 kb
 
VIROLOGY DIVISION
download the entire Virology Division here(2Mb)
AIDS Virus Research Unit 513 kb
Electron Microscopy Unit 413 kb
Respiratory Virus Unit 290 kb
Special Pathogens Unit 1.21Mb
Specialized Molecular Diagnostic Unit 321 kb
Viral Diagnostics Unit 324 kb
Viral Gastroenteritis Unit 280 kb
 
EPIDEMIOLOGY DIVISION
download the entire Epidimiology Division here(950kb)
Epidemiology & Surveillance Unit 352 kb
Outbreak Response Unit 500 kb
SA Field Epidemiology & Laboratory Training Programme 393 kb
Travel Medicine and International Health Unit 328 kb
 
SPECIAL PROGRAMMES download the the full Special Programmes here(541kb)
Comprehensive Care, Treatment & Management Programme for HIV & AIDS 391 kb
National TB Reference Laboratory 307 kb
 
STAFF LIST 283 kb
STAFF & STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS 267 kb
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES 308 kb
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF FUNDERS 264 kb
VISITORS TO NICD 266 kb
PUBLICATIONS 311 kb
Download past Annual Reports here as .pdf documents.
View the Annual Report for 2007 View the Annual Report for 2006, or Dowload the .pdf. View the Annual Report for 2005, or Dowload the .pdf.