Keertan Dheda MBBcH, FCP (SA), PhD, FRCP, FCCP

Keertan Dheda is Professor of Respiratory Medicine, Director of the Lung Infection and Immunity Unit and Head of the Division of Pulmonology, Department of Medicine, at the University of Cape Town. He has been the recipient of several prestigious awards including the 2010 International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease Scientific Award, the South African MRC Career Development Award, a South African NRF and DST Research Chair (SARChI), and holds or has held as PI several multi-national grants from agencies including the NIH, EUFP7, EDCTP etc. His main research interests are (i) clinical aspects of MDR & XDR-TB and (ii) the development and validation of field-friendly TB diagnostics. He is also interested in the immunopathogenesis of TB and other human pulmonary infections. He has established an international collaborative network and a local research programme in which 4 Masters and 6 PhD students are currently enrolled. He has published over 115 peer-reviewed papers including first or senior author publications in journals such as the Lancet, Annals Of Internal Medicine, AJRCCM, and PloS Medicine. As at October 2012, his Thomson Reuters ‘H’ index was 31, and his work has been cited 3 412 times. His corresponding Google Scholar ‘H’ index is 37 with 4947 citations as at 14 February 2013. He holds 1 patent, which is currently being developed as a user-friendly test for extra-pulmonary tuberculosis.

He has a keen interest in medical education. He serves or belongs to several local and international academic societies including serving as the Governor for American College of Chest Physicians for the South Africa region, the scientific committee of the Microbiology, TB and Pulmonary Infection group of the American Thoracic Society, and is a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians. He serves on the editorial board of several journals including PLoS One, the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Medicine, Lancet Respiratory Diseases and Scientific Reports (Nature Group of journals), amongst others. He is the Chief Editor of the South African Respiratory Journal. It has been or is involved in several capacity building-related global health programmes including those with UCL, New York University (NYU), South Western Medical School in Dallas, and AIIMS (New Delhi).