Dr Olive Shisana President

Dr Olive Shisana was appointed CEO of the South African Human Sciences Research Council on 1 August 2005 for an initial five-year term and was subsequently reappointed by Cabinet for a second five-year term with effect from 1 August 2010. On a historic note, Dr Shisana is both the first woman and the first black person to hold the position.

Dr Shisana is a public health professional and brings to her task a wealth of research, management and policy development experience. Prior to taking on the role of CEO, she served as executive director of the HSRC's Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS and Health (SAHA) programme. There, she headed a national programme and Africa-wide network on the Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS and Health Research Alliance (SAHARA). She also served as professor and head of Department of Health Systems Management and Policy at the Medical University of Southern Africa.

As executive director of the World Health Organisation's Family and Community Health cluster, Dr Shisana oversaw programmes dealing with HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, women's health and child and youth development. Locally, she also served as director general of the South African Department of Health - the first woman to head the national health services - and as a specialist scientist at the South African Medical Research Council. Dr Shisana was instrumental in the establishment of the School of Public Health at the University of the Western Cape, which has been in operation since 1993.

Her international credentials include having served as chief statistical advisor to the District of Columbia with responsibility for public health, mental health and social services research.

Dr Shisana is in demand as a speaker at international meetings. She addressed the 49th World Health Assembly as chairperson of one of the committees and has spoken at the 4th International Conference on Health Promotion, the Development Committee of the European Union Parliament, the Committee for Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly in the follow-up to the World Summit for Children, and at a meeting of the US Congressional Brain Trust, where she spoke on HIV/AIDS.

Dr Shisana is the principal investigator and main author of several reports emanating from large studies, and has written numerous chapters in books and articles in scientific journals. She obtained her Doctor of Science degree in behavioural sciences at the Johns Hopkins University, School of Public Health. The School admitted her to the Society of Scholars - an honour given to public health graduates who have made significant contributions to public health. She is, in addition, a founding member of the South African Academy of Sciences.