School of Clinical Medicine gets Neonatologist as Assistant Head of School
- Lisa Rautenbach
Associate Prof Daynia Ballot a lifelong Witsie, leading neonatologist and National Research Foundation C-2 rated researcher has been appointed as Assistant Head of School for the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Paediatrics and Child Health, Family Medicine and Primary Care (Cluster C) in the School of Clinical Medicine as of 1 January 2017.
As Assistant Head of School she will be responsible for providing academic vision and leadership required to enable the Cluster and the School to establish and maintain a position of excellence within the University and in the wider educational context. This will involve the management of all academic activities inclusive of teaching and research at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, student related and all administrative matters within the School, including human resources, financial management and general administration.
Dr Ballot takes on the role from her previous position as Principal Specialist Paediatrician in the Neonatal Unit , Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital (CMJAH) held from 2004. She will continue as Head of Project for Improving Neonatal Care (PRINCE), a new Research programme based at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital (CMJAH), which focusses on researching quality improvement in neonatal care in three areas – perinatal asphyxia, extreme prematurity and prevention of infection.
Inspired by her obstetrician mother to enter the health sciences, Dr Ballot found her calling in neonatology combining the best of being a physician while closely affiliated to Obstetrics.
Gaining her MBBCH from the Witwatersrand University in 1982, Dr Ballot started her career as an intern initially at Hillbrow Hospital, later a medical officer and then a Registrar in Pediatrics for Wits Faculty of Health Science. She then pursued and completed her PhD also at the Witwatersrand University in 1989, on iron nutrition. She went on to become a Research Registrar at the Neonatal Unit at the Johannesburg Hospital. In 1990 was admitted as a fellow of the College of Paediatricians of South Africa and registered as a subspecialist in Neonatology with Health Professions Council of SA in 1993. At Johannesburg Hospital she progressed to Specialist Paediatrician, then to Senior Specialist Paediatrician and later Associate Professor in Paediatrics in 2002.
Dr Ballot is invited on a regular basis to do pre- publication reviews for many local and international journals. She has also published 60 papers to date.
Her volunteer work for the hospital and department of Paediatrics through the Wits Paediatric Fund has helped raised funds for more modern equipment for the Hospital. She has been awarded both the Wits Volunteer and Vice Chancellor’s Academic Citizenship awards for her community commitment.
When asked about the new appointment Dr Ballot said: “With the academic medicine focus of this position, I believe that I have the opportunity to develop research and teaching extensively in these three departments. I hope to foster increased research and postgraduate output through collaboration between the three departments.”