EViTOH Staff

The Emerging Viral Threats, One Health Surveillance, and Vaccines (EViTOH) division, led by Professor Marietjie Venter, a distinguished professor and NRF-SARChI Chair, is a newly established research group within the Infectious Diseases and Oncology Research Institute (IDORI) at the University of Witwatersrand. Professor Venter also directs the Centre for Emerging and Re-emerging Arbo and Respiratory Viruses (CEARV) at the University of Pretoria (UP) and holds an extraordinary professorship in the Department of Medical Virology at UP.

EViTOH focuses on emerging and re-emerging pathogens, particularly vector-borne and respiratory viruses, aiming to enhance South Africa’s capacity to detect, prevent, and respond to novel diseases. Through multidisciplinary One Health research, the division strengthens epidemic and pandemic preparedness both locally and globally. Its vision is to lead syndromic and genomic surveillance across human, animal, and environmental sectors, achieved through innovative diagnostics, genomic studies, and the development of One Health vaccines.