Biostatistician measures up as new Head of School of Public Health at Wits
- L.R
Associate Professor Tobias Chirwa has been appointed as Head: School of Public Health effective from 01 February 2017.
Prof. Chirwa is a seasoned academic, established public health researcher and biostatistician, with exceptional credentials in infectious disease epidemiology and more recently in non-communicable diseases. He has a special research interest in HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.
He has served as Head, Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the School of Public Health at Wits for several years. Previously he was Research Fellow in Medical Statistics in the Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Unit of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He later progressed to work on the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s research projects in Mwanza, Tanzania.
Prof. Chirwa has contributed to over 50 peer-reviewed publications and has initiated and completed research with the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, Centre for Health Policy, MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), and Wits Health Consortium.
He has taken responsibility for more than 30 research projects as project statistician and he is also one of a handful of leading African researchers to receive major funding to establish relevant research and training programmes across the continent.
“As an exceptional academic and formidable biostatistician and researcher, Prof. Chirwa will play a key role in driving the Faculty’s strategic imperatives to develop and grow the Faculty’s capacity in public health education and research,” says Professor Martin Veller, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences.
Prof. Chirwa intends to use his extensive network of colleagues and collaborations within the Africa region and overseas academic institutions to further strengthen the footprint of the School of Public Health.
Prof. Chirwa will succeed Professor Leatitia Rispel, who will take up the SARChi Chair in research on the health workforce.