Our team

Groote Schuur Hospital

Professor Graham Fieggen (Director)


Medical School	University of Cape Town
Postgraduate qualifications	MSc (Neuroscience) University of London MD (Neurosurgery) University of Cape Town FCS (SA) (Neurosurgery)
Year of Registration	1997
Further training	Paediatric Neurosurgery under the mentorship of Professor Jonathan C Peter at Red Cross Children’s Hospital Short-term visits to units in Munich, Paris and San Francisco
Areas of interest	Paediatric Neurosurgery Functional Neurosurgery Global Surgery Education and Training in Surgery Neuroscience
Current positions	Helen and Morris Mauerberger Professor and Head of Division University of Cape Town Head of Clinical Department, Neurosurgery Groote Schuur Hospital Paediatric Neurosurgeon Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital Director, UCT Neuroscience Institute University of CApe Town Head, Department of Surgery (2017-2021) University of Cape Town Patron, Student Surgical Society University of Cape Town
Professional affiliations	Leadership International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery (President 2018, Annual Meeting Chairman 2008) World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (2^nd Vice President 2017-2019) Continental Association of African Neurosurgical Societies (President 2014-2016) Society of Neurosurgeons of South Africa (2018-2020) College of Neurosurgeons of South Africa (Councillor) Membership American Association of Neurological Surgeons (iFAANS) American Academy of Neurological Surgeons (Corresponding member) World Academy of Neurological Surgeons (Member) European Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery (Teaching Faculty for Annual Course 2010-2012) World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (Chairman of local organizing committee for 2011 Interim Meeting) Editorial Boards: Neurosurgery, The Guide (ISPN electronic textbook)

Ms Vuyiwe Bathaka (Administrator)

Associate Professor David Le Feuvre


Medical School	University of Cape Town
Postgraduate qualifications	MMed (Neurosurgery) University of Cape TownMSc (Universities of Bicetre (Paris) and Mahidol (Chiang Mai)) FCS Neurosurgery (SA)
Year of Registration	2003
Further training	Neurointerventional training under the mentorship of Professor Pierre Lasjaunias, Paris, France and Professor Allan Taylor, Cape Town
Areas of interest	Cerebrovascular surgeryNeuro-intervention Neuro-oncology: Skull Base surgery and glioma surgery
Current positions	Consultant Neurosurgeon, Neurovascular Unit, Groote Schuur Hospital MBChB Convener, Division of Neurosurgery
Professional affiliations	Society of Neurosurgeons of South AfricaSouth African Neurointervention Society World Federation of Therapeutic and Interventional Neuroradiology (Secretary, 9th Bienniel Meeting, 2011)

Dr Ncedile Mankahla


Medical School	University of Kwazulu Natal
Postgraduate qualifications	FC Neurosurg (SA) 2015 Mmed (Neurosurg) UCT 2017
Areas of interest	Neurooncology Skull Base Surgery Spine Oncology and Reconstruction surgery
Current Positions	Head Spine surgery and spinal oncology Co-director Neuroendocrine and Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery
Short Bio	Dr Mankahla earned his MBChB degree from the University of Kwazulu Natal in Durban. After working in General Surgery as a medical officer, he joined UCT neurosurgery in 2010. He completed his college examinations in 2015. In 2016 he completed dual training in Spine surgery and Skull Base/Endoscopic Pituitary surgery under mentorship of Professors A. Taylor and P. L Semple. He completed a further 1 year fellowship in paediatric neurosurgery under Prof A Figaji. Clinical activities are in adult and paediatric spinal surgery with a focus on spine oncology, and neuroendocrine surgery. Email: ncedile.mankahla@uct.ac.za

Dr Sally Rothemeyer


Medical School	University of the Witwatersrand
Postgraduate qualifications	FCNeurosurg (SA)
Year of Registration	2007
Further training	Functional Neurosurgery with Dr RL Melvill (Constantiaberg Medi-Clinic) and Professor Marwan Hariz, Queen Square, London
Areas of interest	Functional Neurosurgery (Epilepsy, pain and movement disorders) Neurooncology and Neuroendoscopy Multidisciplinary Rehab Clinic NeuroHIV
Current positions	Consultant Neurosurgeon Groote Schuur Hospital
Professional affiliations	Society of Neurosurgeons of South Africa World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (Secretary, Organising Committee, 2011 Interim Meeting) WFNS Young Neurosurgeons Committee (South African delegate)

Professor Patrick Semple


Medical School	University of Cape Town
Postgraduate qualifications	MMed (Neurosurgery) University of Cape Town PhD University of Cape Town FCS(SA) Neurosurgery
Year of Registration	1994
Further training	Fellowship in pituitary surgery (Professor Ed Laws, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA) Trained in endoscopic pituitary surgery (Prof Paolo Cappabianca, University Fredrico II, Naples, Italy)
Areas of interest	Pituitary surgery Neuroendoscopic surgery Neurointensive care
Current positions	Head of Clinical Unit and Head of Firm Head of Neurointensive care Co-director Neuroendocrine and Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery
Professional affiliations	Society of Neurosurgeons of South Africa College of Medicine of South Africa (Senator) American Association of Neurological Surgeons International Society of Pituitary Surgeons College of Neurosurgeons of South Africa (President)

Associate Professor Allan Taylor


Medical School	University of the Witwatersrand
Postgraduate qualifications	MMed (Neurosurgery) University of Cape Town MSc (Neurointervention) University of Paris Sud/ Mahidol FCS(SA) Neurosurgery
Year of Registration	1995
Further training	Neurointerventional training under the mentorship of Professor Pierre Lasjaunias, Paris, France and Professor Karel ter Brugge, Toronto, Canada
Areas of interest	Cerebrovascular surgery Neurointervention Skull Base surgery Radiosurgery
Current positions	Head of Neurovascular Unit and Head of Firm Groote Schuur Hospital Visiting Professor University of the Witwatersrand
Professional affiliations	Society of Neurosurgeons of South Africa (Secretary) South African Neurointervention Society World Federation of Therapeutic and Interventional Neuroradiology (Chairman of the 11th Bienniel Meeting, 2011)

Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital

Dr Nico Enslin


Medical School	University of Pretoria
Postgraduate qualifications	FC Neurosurg (SA) 2014 MMed (Neurosurgery) University of Cape Town
Areas of interest	Paediatric Neurosurgery Functional Neurosurgery Epilepsy, Spasticity and Movement Disorders
Short Bio	I studied physiotherapy and then medicine at University of Pretoria. This joint interest in neurology has lead me to pursue a career in Neurosurgery. I specialized at University of Cape Town and completed my neurosurgical training there, after which I did short fellowships in functional neurosurgery at various European neurosurgical units. I completed a year fellowship in Paediatric neurosurgery at Red Cross Children’s hospital in Cape Town, and this is where I am currently working as a consultant neurosurgeon. My special interests are functional neurosurgery: Epilepsy surgery, spasticity surgery and movement disorder surgery.

Professor Anthony Figaji


Medical School	University of Cape Town
Postgraduate qualifications	MMed (Neurosurgery) University of Cape Town PhD University of Cape Town FCNeurosurg (SA)
Year of Registration	2004
Further training	Paediatric Neurosurgery under the mentorship of Professors Peter and Fieggen, Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital Short-term visits to units in New York, San Francisco and Verona
Areas of interest	Paediatric Neurosurgery Neurotrauma Neurocritical care Intraoperative Neurophysiology
Current positions	Head of Paediatric Neurosurgery Unit and Head of Firm Head of Neurocritical Care Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital
Professional affiliations	Society of Neurosurgeons of South Africa Critical Care Society of South Africa International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery International Neurotrauma Society (Executive Board) International Society for Intraoperative Neurophysiology (Executive Board, Chairman of the 2013 biennial Congress) Editorial boards: The Guide (ISPN Electronic textbook), Child’s Nervous System Steering Committee, AONeuro (AO Foundation) Scientific Chair of the Society of Neurosurgeons of South Africa

Part-time Consultants

Emeritus Professor JC “Kay” de Villiers

Emeritus Professor JC “Kay” de Villiers

late (SAJS March 2019:Vol 57.No1)

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Dr Norman Fisher-Jeffes

Dr Norman Fisher-Jeffes

Dr Shafik Parker

Dr Shafik Parker

Emeritus Professor Jonathan C Peter

Emeritus Professor Jonathan C Peter

late (Childs Nerv Syst. 2018 Oct; 34(10):1809-1812)

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Dr Crispin Thompson
Dr Crispin Thompson
- Head of Neurospine
- Head of Green Firm

Dr David Welsh


Medical School	University of Cape Town
Postgraduate qualifications	FRCS (Eng)FCS (SA) Neurosurgery
Year of Registration	2001
Further training	University of Cape Town
Areas of interest	SpineCraniocervical junction Neuro-oncology
Current positions	Head of Firm, Consultant Neurosurgeon Acute Spinal Cord Injury Unit Groote Schuur Hospital
Professional affiliations	Society of Neurosurgeons of South AfricaSA Spine Society (Secretary and Treasurer) International faculty, AO Spine Editorial board: European Spine Journal

Dr Grant White

Dr Grant White

Fellows

Dr Christel Arnold

Dr Christel Arnold

Neurocritical care fellow

Dr Michael Jario

Dr Michael Jario

Endovascular and Neurointervention fellow

Dr Nqobile Thango

Dr Nqobile Thango

Paediatric Neurosurgery fellow

Dr Andrew Mathole

Dr Andrew Mathole

Orthopaedic Spine fellow

Dr Abidemi Oseni

Dr Abidemi Oseni

Neurocritical care fellow

Mr Henco Van Dyk

Mr Henco Van Dyk

Intraoperative Neurophysiology fellow

Researchers

Dr Nelleke Langerak


Degrees	PhD Biomedical Engineering (2009) Bsc Physiotherapy (2004) MSc Human Movement Sciences (2001)
Research Projects	Interdisciplinary studies: gait analyses - physical, functional and fitness assessments - X-ray, MRI and DXA imaging – psychosocial, neurocognitive and life-style questionnaires. Principal investigator on following projects: Long-term follow-up after Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) in children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) Long-term follow-up after multiple orthopaedic interventions in children with CP Follow-up of children with HIV encephalopathy Transition from childhood into adulthood with CP
Biography	Dr Nelleke G. Langerak is a Human Movement Scientist (HMS) working at the Division of Neurosurgery, University of Cape Town, South Africa. Besides her Master’s degree in Biomedical Health Sciences (HMS, 2001), she also has a Bachelor’s degree in Physiotherapy (2004, Cum Laude) and a PhD degree in Biomedical Engineering (2009, Tripe A: Cum Laude). Her first two degrees were obtained in the Netherlands, while she completed her PhD at UCT in South Africa (SA). After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Faculty of Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University (SU) in SA, she moved back to UCT where she is currently based. Her expertise lies in interdisciplinary research with a special interest in the lives of people with childhood-onset neuromuscular disabilities. She enjoys working with a holistic approach resulting in studies with a wide variety of outcome measures including gait analysis, physical examinations, functional tests, brain and spine imaging, neurocognitive studies, and quality of life, activity and participation assessments. Dr Langerak’s primary research is in the field of long-term follow-up studies after Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR), a neurosurgical procedure, in children with spastic diplegic Cerebral Palsy (CP). In line with this, she also focuses on long-term outcomes of orthopaedic interventions in this population and transition problems. Another area of interest is the status of children with HIV encephalopathy and spastic diplegia, which formed the basis of a prestigious Collaborative Initiative for Paediatric HIV Education and Research (CIPHER) award she received from the International AIDS Society. In addition, Dr Langerak received a five-year Research Career Advancement Fellowship funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF) South Africa, what she is currently holding at UCT.

Dr Ursula Rohlwink


Degrees	B.A Psychology and Neuroscience (2009) MSc Neuroscience (2009) PhD Neuroscience (2014)
Selected Academic Grants	Clinical Infectious Diseases Research Initiative -Wellcome Trust PhD Fellowship Clinical Infectious Diseases Research Initiative -Wellcome Trust Post-doctoral Fellowship South African National Research Foundation Competitive Support for Unrated Researchers Grant USA National Neurotrauma Society TEAM Women in Neuroscience Visiting International Scholar Grant
Research focus	Dr Rohlwink stives to answer clinically relevant questions through translational research by integrating clinical data from multimodality brain monitors with laboratory data from transcriptomics, proteomics, drug recovery and metabolic analyses.
Research Projects	Biomarkers of brain injury and inflammation in paediatric tuberculous meningitis Differential gene expression profiling of the cerebrospinal fluid and blood of children with tuberculous meningitis Transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis of brain injury mechanisms and energy metabolism in paediatric tuberculous meningitis Neurocritical care in brain injury – traumatic and infectious Cerebral microdialysis in traumatic brain injury and tuberculous meningitis Pharmacokinetic profiling of rifampicin in site of disease samples in tuberculous meningitis Pharmacokinetic profiling of analgosedatives in traumatic brain injury Pathways of cell death in tuberculous meningitis Long term consequences of paediatric tuberculous meningitis
Biography	Dr Ursula Rohlwink joined the UCT Division of Neurosurgery in 2009 when she began her Master’s in Neuroscience investigating the relationship between intracranial pressure and brain oxygentaion following paediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI). Through her continued research in neurotrauma in the Paediatric Neurosurgery Unit she has gained insight into neurocritical care and multimodality neuromonitoring. For her PhD in Neuroscience she expanded her research on brain injury to tuberculous meningitis (TBM), a severe form of disseminated tuberculosis. Her project examined biomarkers of brain injury and inflammation in association with neurodevelomental and clinical outcome. Key findings indicated ongoing brain injury in patients despite full TBM treatment, and compartmentalisation of inflammatory and injury responses within the central nervous system. She pursued this work further during her post-doctoral fellowship by characterising the immune response and mechanisms of brain injury using whole-genome RNA-sequencing in site of disease samples. In 2018 Dr Rohlwink was awarded one of the first fellowships in the UCT Neuroscience Institute. She continues her work on TBI and TBM as a member of the Division of Neurosurgery.
Collaborations	John’s Hopkins Medicine, USA Cambridge University, UK Francis Crick Institute, UK Imperial College, UK University of Stellenbosch, RSA

Professor Peter Siesjö

Professor Peter Siesjö

Honorary Professor Lund University, Sweden

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Professor Matthew Wood

Professor Matthew Wood

Honorary Professor

University of Oxford, United Kingdom

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Registrars

Dr Byron De John

Dr Byron De John

Year 1

Dr Thembani Hina

Dr Thembani Hina

Year 2

Dr Tomson Katungi

Dr Tomson Katungi

Year 3

Dr Stefan Krugeri

Dr Stefan Kruger

Year 1

Dr Jed Lazarus

Dr Jed Lazarus

Medical Officer

Dr Lazarus completed his MBChB at the University of Pretoria in 2015. He underwent his 2 year internship at New Somerset Hospital in Cape Town and completed his community service in 2019 at Potchefstroom Hospital, spending the year in the general surgery department. In 2019 he joined the Department of Neurosurgery at Groote Schuur Hospital as a Medical Officer. Outside of medicine he enjoys travelling to various countries around the world and expanding his horizons. He is a great fan of sport and likes to keep fit and active.

Dr Rene Lekoloane

Dr Rene Lekoloane

Year 2

Dr Rene Lekoloane completed undergraduate training in 2012 with the University of KZN. After a 2-year internship in Cape Town, she went on to do rural attachment in the Limpopo province, followed by time spent in general surgery. She then returned to UCT as a medical officer in neurosurgery, before joining the registrar training programme in 2018.

Dr Lizette Louw

Dr Lizette Louw

Year 3

Dr Manyando Lubasi

Dr Manyando Lubasi

Year 3

MD, Yaroslavl State Medical Academy- Russian Federation

Did Internship at University teaching hospital (UTH) Lusaka Zambia for two years from 2009 to 2010 then was attached to a neurosurgical unit for over three months prior to being posted for rural service. Began neurosurgical training as a supernumerary registrar at UCT in September 2016.

Dr Babalwa Scwebu

Dr Babalwa Scwebu

Medical Officer

Dr Sean Tromp

Dr Sean Tromp

Year 4

Dr Tromp completed medical training at University of Cape Town in 2012. After two years of internship in East London, he spent time in general surgery and neurosurgery in Kimberley Hospital Complex, 2015. He then returned to UCT in January 2016 to begin his registrar training.

Division of Neurosurgery