Alumni in the news March 2020
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Witsies making the headlines
COMMERCE
Buchule Jack (BComm 2008) traded his office job for farming in the Eastern Cape and breaks stereotypes.
Kim McFarland (BComm 1986) steps down as executive director of Investec and announced as new CFO of Ninety One.
Derek Wilcocks (BEconSc, BEconScHons 1993) offers advice to young technologists on the growing role of technology which is crucial in today’s data-driven business.
Professor Mervyn King (BComm 1969, LLB 1960, DLitt 2008) former Judge of the Supreme Court and Chair of the King Committee on Corporate Governance in South Africa welcomed at Wits Business School as Honorary Professor.
ENGINEERING AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT
Simon Baloyi (BSc Eng 2000, MSc Eng 2002) brings new energy to Sasol and is appointed as Senior Vice-President of Secunda Chemicals Operations.
Dineo Lioma (BSc Eng 2011) shares her big plans on using artificial intelligence in medicine.
Director of Wits Business School and BCX chair in digital business, Professor Brian Armstrong (BSc Eng 1982, MSc Eng 1985), shares useful insights on the future of work.
Dr Paul Roberts (BSc Eng 1980, PhD 1990) celebrated for his dedication to the field of engineering.
MEDICINE
Dr Francesca Conradie (MBBCh 1988, DTM&H 2000) co-authors a study which proves successful in treating drug-resistant TB.
Professor Glenda Gray (MBBCh 1986) outlines why the historic HIV Vaccine Clinical Trial has been stopped in South Africa.
Professor Frederick J Raal (MBBCh 1981, MSc 1991, PhD 2000) Head of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at Wits and lead author of the Phase 3 trial that reduces cholesterol to near-normal levels among patients with a cholesterol disorder.
HUMANITIES
Barbara Adair, who works part time at the Wits Writing Centre, has a new enigmatic novel that transports readers into seductive and dark worlds.
Kenneth Creamer (BA 1991, BA Hon 114, LLB 1995, LLM, 1997, PhD 2010) provides a brief explainer to Tito Mboweni’s Budget Speech.
William Gumede (MA 2003) offers youngsters guidance on how to stand for their values.
Candice Chirwa (BA 2017) tackles period shame in TEDx talk. Nonjabulo Gumede (BA 2017) expands her conversations about identity politics in Africa.
SCIENCE
Professor Bob Scholes (BSc 1978, BSc Hon 1979, PhD 1988) from the Global Change Institute at Wits explains that spekboom isn’t more effective than the Amazon rainforest at sucking carbon out of the atmosphere.
Dr Ashleigh Jane Hutchinson, deputy director of the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences and senior lecturer in the School of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at Wits, argues mathematical modelling can be used to understand the Eskom crisis.