Who We Are | SEAD / Scientific Medical Research

Tim Tucker – Managing Director
Tim Tucker is a medical doctor, a registered specialist Clinical Virologist, with a PhD in molecular virology.
After qualifying as a medical doctor, Tim practiced for some years in general medicine and subsequently at the University of Cape Town specialist liver disease research unit, where he conducted multiple clinical research studies. He then completed a PhD in molecular virology at the University of Cape Town, where he led a laboratory and clinical research team in various aspects of HIV and hepatitis viruses. He is an honorary member of staff in the Clinical Virology Department of the University of Cape Town.
Tim was the head of the South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI), a large product development-based consortium. The product development aspects and significant clinical trial capacity created by SAAVI resulted in the consortium becoming a well-respected, global HIV vaccine developer. During this time, Tim acquired many regulatory and product development skills relating to the SA regulatory environment as well as that of the USA and Europe. Tim is also the past deputy chair of the African AIDS Vaccine Program, and has sat on boards and international committees relating to HIV and product development.

Peter Manyike – Director
Peter Manyike is a pharmacist by training and holds the following academic qualifications: B Pharm (University of the North, South Africa, 1985), MSc Med (Cum Laude) (Medical University of Southern Africa, South Africa, 1990), PhD (University of Washington, Seattle, USA, 1999).
Peter’s work experience includes hospital pharmacy, pharmaceutical manufacturing (both processing and packaging - Eli Lilly and Schering Plough), clinical research (Bayer Healthcare, Roche Products, and ICON Clinical Research), and an integrated vaccine research and development environment at the South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI), a lead programme of the Medical Research Council of South Africa, all in South Africa.
At SAAVI, Peter served as a Medical and Regulatory Affairs Manager, and was later appointed as an Interim Co-Director for Scientific and Clinical Affairs, responsible for directing research activities involving more than 220 scientists involved in vaccine design and characterisation, immunology, the conduct of clinical trials, and other ancillary activities of this multi-million Rand national initiative.
He is the Co-Founder and Director of SEAD Consulting (Pty) Ltd, and also a Founder and Managing Director of Clinical Sciences Research Consultants CC, which, in partnership with MIMS, a division of AVUSA Media Limited, publishes a quarterly publication on clinical trials, entitled ‘MICRETS™’ (Monthly Index of Clinical Research Trials and Sites™).

Danie Eksteen – Business Advisor
Danie Eksteen is a Business Consultant (BComm LLM MBA) who specialises in the field of Strategic Human Capital Consulting. This includes Management Consulting and Organisational Development; Leadership development and Coaching.
As Business Advisor to SEAD, Danie brings both a strategic and practical business perspective built on a wealth of experience accumulated in legal and business practice. This includes a stint as the Business Manager of the South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative.
An MBA qualification through the Universities of Cape Town and Washington, Seattle – redirected his career towards the strategic role of human capital in organisational success. He is a member of the Worth Ethic Global Network of Coaches.

Michelle Galloway – Communications Manager, M&E
Michelle Galloway has been the Communications Manager of SEAD since November 2008. She was previously Media and Communications Manager of the South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI) and was involved in SAAVI from its establishment in 1999.
She is an editor and writer, and was the Managing Editor of AIDS Bulletin, a newsletter on HIV/AIDS published by the Medical Research Council, for 13 years. She has also written and edited many other publications for the MRC as a staff member of the Corporate Communication Division.
She has written extensively on HIV/AIDS for the Bulletin and other publications. She served as a rapporteur for President Mbeki’s Presidential AIDS Panel during 2000 and as journalist and member of the editorial board of the Daily News conference supplement during the Durban AIDS Conference in 2000. In 2004 she was Managing Editor of The Correspondent, the official newspaper of the Bangkok International AIDS Conference for Health & Development Networks (HDN).
She also served on the Editorial Board of the MRC’s AIDS portal, AfroAIDSinfo.
In 2008 she served on the Local Organising Committee for the AIDS Vaccine Conference in Cape Town to facilitate media and communications activities.
She has a Masters degree in Journalism (cum laude) from the University of Stellenbosch and completed her thesis on HIV/AIDS journalism in South Africa. She has edited various non-fiction works and novels, has been involved in writing and editing documents for the World Health Organisation, and in training initiatives around HIV/AIDS reporting in the South African media.

Zukile Mgabile – Office Manager
Zukile is currently completing his Diploma in Office Management and Technology at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. He has extensive working experience in the field of office management and administration. His previous employers have encompassed both the private and government sectors and include NTH2 Practitioners in Employment Relations (Pty) Ltd, Environmental Partnerships, Ninham Shand Consulting Services and the Aberdeen Municipality and Community Advice Office.

Expert consultants

SEAD has had the exceptional good fortune to have been associated with the following expert consultants:

Gary Maartens
Gary Maartens is an infectious disease physician and clinical pharmacologist. He has a joint appointment as chief specialist physician and professor at Groote Schuur Hospital and the University of Cape Town, South Africa, where he is head of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine. He is a consultant to the largest managed care HIV programme in Africa. He has acted as a consultant to the World Health Organisation. He is currently the principal investigator on six studies, including two randomised-controlled trials of interventions for HIV-associated tuberculosis. He has published over 80 peer-reviewed articles (including an invited review on tuberculosis in The Lancet), is co-editor of the Handbook of HIV Medicine (Oxford University Press Southern Africa, now in its second edition) and has written several book chapters. He is on the editorial boards of Lancet Infectious Diseases, Antiviral Therapy, Cochrane Collaboration (HIV/AIDS Review Group) and PLoS ONE.

Wolfgang Preiser
Prof. Dr. med. Dr. med. habil. DTM&H MRCPath
Wolfgang Preiser was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He studied medicine at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt and University College London, UK. After acquiring the Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, he commenced his specialist training in medical virology at the Institute for Medical Virology in Frankfurt. From 1995 to 1999 he was Lecturer/Honorary Senior Registrar at the Department of Virology, University College London Medical School. After qualifying as Member of the Royal College of Pathologists London (MRCPath) in 2000 and having been awarded his first doctoral degree, he subsequently returned to Frankfurt as Consultant Virologist to complete his second doctoral degree (‘Habilitation’) which was awarded in 2005.
Since 2005 Wolfgang Preiser has been Professor and Head of the Division of Medical Virology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University/National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) Tygerberg.
His principal research interests are the development, improvement and evaluation of novel methods for virological laboratory diagnosis, particularly in HIV-infected patients. He works on quantitative viral genome detection, the measurement of virus-specific cellular immunity and the detection of antiviral resistance-associated mutations, as well as operational and epidemiological problems.
He also has a keen interest in tropical and emerging viral diseases, having done research on the diagnosis and epidemiology of tropical, zoonotic and arthropod-borne viruses, such as SARS, dengue, and yellow fever. He served as a temporary advisor to the World Health Organisation (WHO) on SARS in China in 2003 and was the lead author for the Frankfurt group who together with a group from Hamburg was among the first to isolate SARS-associated coronavirus in spring 2003.

Kerrin Begg
Kerrin attained her MBChB at the University of Cape Town in 1994, a Diploma in Child Health in 1996 and a Diploma in Obstetrics in 1997. She then completed her medical specialisation, obtaining a Fellowship in Public Health Medicine (CMSA) in 2002. Kerrin is a trained Depth Facilitator, an accredited Thomas PPA practitioner, as well as certified in The Leadership Circle Profile™.
After a brief stint in clinical practice, she moved into the field of management, gaining wide-ranging experience in hospital and health services management. In the public sector, she managed an 80-bed district hospital, improving efficiencies and performance whilst commissioning Revenue Generation Projects and implementing District Programmes for the prevention of HIV/AIDS. In the private sector, Kerrin was Manager of a 103-bed tertiary care hospital in the JSE-listed Netcare Group. Having first improved service levels at this troubled hospital, she developed and executed the strategy to relocate and amalgamate its clinical services to a JV Private Academic Hospital. Subsequently, Kerrin was interim Manager and Director of the JV. Kerrin then managed a 247 licensed-bed tertiary care enabling a phenomenal 17,5% growth in activity over a 12-month period.
In the non-government sector, Kerrin is a Trustee of an FBO for HIV/AIDS education & care (including hospice), and for the past six years was a Director and Chairperson of the Sunflower Fund, an NPO with the purpose of awareness and fundraising for the SA Bone Marrow Registry. Kerrin, whilst National Chairperson of the Junior Doctors Association of SA, served on the Task Group to examine the restructuring of the Medical Association of South Africa (MASA), which ultimately resulted in the transition to a new organisation, SAMA (South African Medical Association) of which she was a Trustee.
Kerrin is currently consulting in the fields of strategy, leadership, mentorship and coaching, performance processes, organisational design and organisational Culture. Her clients have spanned the health care sector (in the public, private, parastatal and non-governmental sectors), construction, agriculture and entrepreneurial ventures.
Kerrin is a part-time lecturer at the University of Cape Town. She contributes to education in Epidemiology and Health Management to undergraduate students and also to postgraduate students in the Masters in Public Health programme, as well as Leadership at the Graduate School of Business.
Kerrin is married and has four children. She enjoys spending time with her family, camping, hiking and dabbling in photography.

Jonny Myers
BSc MBChB DTM&H MD MFOM
Jonny Myers is currently Professor and Director, Center for Occupational and Environmental Health Research, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Other relevant positions include:
• Director of a World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre in Occupational Health.
• Board and scientific committee member, Fogarty International training programme in occupational and environmental health research
• Editorial Board, American Journal of Industrial Medicine and Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology
• Member, Division of Occupational Medicine, College of Public Health Medicine, Colleges of Medicine of South Africa.
• Honorary Life Member, South African Society for Occupational Medicine
• Fellow of the Collegium Ramazzini, Carpi, Italy
• Fellow of the University of Cape Town

His research interests encompass the adverse health effects of occupational and environmental exposures to metals (chromium and manganese); reproductive health effects of DDT; respiratory health effects of exposure to silica; and, occupational epidemiology.
While his educational interests include: being Convenor of the postgraduate diploma in occupational health, Master of Medicine specialisation programme in Public Health Medicine, and the School doctoral dissertation programmes. He is also involved in developing web-based and multimedia learning materials for distance learning and the construction of a global repository for educational and training resources for capacity development in occupational and environmental health and a global network of educators.

Taryn Young
Taryn Young is an epidemiologist with a specialist degree in public health and considerable expertise in the field of evidence-based health care. She has co-ordinated projects which facilitate the use of best evidence in health care policy and practice, conducted many systematic reviews and provided intensive training, mentorship and editorial support to authors of Cochrane systematic reviews. Furthermore, she has managed international collaborative projects in sub-Saharan Africa and continues to co-ordinate training programmes for under- and postgraduate students in public health and epidemiology, evidence-based health care and research synthesis nationally and in the African region. She also has experience with masters’ student supervision, project management, financial and human resource management, networking and consultation, and is the section editor for the International Journal of Epidemiology as well as the Journal of Current Allergy and Immunology.
She is the founding member of RYTD Consultancy. RYTD Consultancy is an
evidence-based health care consulting company which focuses on providing consultation to organisations and individuals to enhance their capacity to make informed decisions. The focus is on accessing, appraising and interpreting best evidence.

Baptiste Dungu
Dr Baptiste Dungu, a South African citizen, is a veterinarian and vaccinologist, currently Senior Director: Research and development for GALVmed, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. He qualified as a veterinarian in the DR Congo in 1988, where he worked as a junior lecturer for three years at University of Lubumbashi. He moved to South Africa in 1992, where he obtained all his post-graduate qualifications from the University of Pretoria. He worked for 10 years as senior researcher at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute (OVI), covering different aspects such as research on ovine lentiviruses and development of recombinant antigen-based ELISA tests. As project leader, he established the first multidisciplinary nucleic acid-based diagnostic laboratory at OVI and developed a number of diagnostic tools on a wide range of animal diseases. He also established the Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) diagnostic laboratory. Later, he served as Programme Manager of the foot and mouth vaccine development and production unit. From 2002 until 2008, he worked at Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP) as General Manager: Operations, R&D, and later as Chief Operating Officer, overseeing the production and development of more some 50 different vaccines and biologics, as well as related R&D activities. For the past 15 years, he has conducted consultancies in more than 10 African countries for different international organisations such as the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, the FAO, as well as the African Union-International Bureau on Animal Resources and the SADC. He also has consulted in a number of biotechnology related processes nationally and internationally. He has more than 15 peer-reviewed articles to his credit, a patent and more than 40 congress contributions and other publications.

Peter Wilson
Founder & Principal, PRB Consulting (UK)
Founder & Executive Director, African Leadership Institute (UK Charity)
Mr Wilson, a South African, is an international consultant in strategy and business development. He has advised the Executive Committees of a number of global blue chip organisations, as well as advising national governments in Africa on national development strategies. Since 1998 until the takeover by Novartis he was retained as strategy advisor to the CEO of Chiron Corporation, where he advised on both corporate and divisional strategies, including their vaccines strategy, and in establishing a start-up life sciences joint venture with the Singapore EDB. In recent years, he has served as strategy and business advisor to the Vice-President of Vaccines Research & Development. In this capacity he conceptualised, planned, established and developed the Novartis Vaccines Institute for Global Health, an initiative by Novartis to develop vaccines for neglected diseases of the developing world. He was also instrumental in establishing the Novartis Vaccines Academy, and Siena Life Sciences, a biotechnology incubator. He was retained by GAVI to co-ordinate the activities of their R&D Task Force when it was first formed, and has undertaken a strategy review for Europrise, the European network of organisations involved in HIV/AIDS vaccine research. He is a Founder of iThemba Pharmaceuticals, a start-up research company based in South Africa, and is an advisor to the Board of the Biovac Institute.
In the last seven years he has founded and established the African Leadership Institute (AfLI), a UK Charity and South African Section 21 company dedicated to nurturing the leadership capabilities of high potential young Africans from across the continent. The Institute works in partnership with Oxford University and several African institutions, and its graduates are awarded Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowships.
Prior to starting his own consulting company, he held several senior executive positions with Shell, including CEO of one of their subsidiaries in South Africa (1984-8), and Strategic Advisor to the Shell International Group (1988-92). He has an MSc (Eng) from University Cape Town, and a MPhil (Management) from Oxford. He was a Rhodes Scholar and international sportsman, having represented South Africa at field hockey, and South African Schools at cricket. Mr Wilson was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

Nick Allen
Nick Allen is an engineering and MBA graduate of the University of Cape Town who has spent the past nine years in the science and technology commercialisation sector. Starting out at Acorn Technologies, the life sciences incubator that became part of Cape Biotech, Nick has extensive experience of the commercial aspects of the South African and international vaccines industry, having consulted extensively to the Biovac Institute and Cape Biotech. Nick has also been involved in a hands-on capacity in establishing a number of life science focused companies in Cape Town, such as Snuza and Leatt Corp, as well as consulting to top local medical technology company DISA Vascular.
Prior to this Nick spent three years in London running the IT Department of a major NHS Trust and two years in Lesotho, building roads on the Lesotho Highlands Water Project.
Nick’s primary business, Savant Analytic, assists start-up technology-based companies in commercialising their Intellectual Property by providing a strong commercial, strategic and financial structure. Savant has raised finance for technology companies from TIA, the IDC, venture capital and private investors.

Johann Louw
Johann Louw is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cape Town (UCT). He holds postgraduate degrees from the Universities of Stellenbosch (in South Africa) and Leiden (The Netherlands). His doctorate is from the University of Amsterdam in The Netherlands. He teaches programme evaluation in psychology, management studies, sociology and public health at UCT. He has taught similar courses at the Universities of the Western Cape, Stellenbosch, and Johannesburg. He has published numerous papers in refereed journals and chapters in books, and among these, was the co-editor of a book on addressing childhood adversity in South Africa. The National Research Foundation has rated him as an internationally recognised scholar. He has acted as consultant to organisations such as the World Health Organisation, the Planned Parenthood Association, Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Africa, and the Western Cape Education Department.

Joha Louw-Potgieter
Joha Louw-Potgieter is Professor in the School of Management Studies, University of Cape Town (UCT) and the Head of the Section of Organisational Psychology. Under her leadership the section implemented an Honours degree in Training Evaluation and a Master’s degree in Monitoring and Evaluation in 2007.
She is also the Director of the Institute for Monitoring and Evaluation at the University of Cape Town. The Institute presents short courses, consults and disseminates evaluation research.
She holds a DPhil degree from the University of Bristol, UK. During contract work for the World Food Programme in Rome in 2001, she was requested to do an evaluation of an on-line training course. Since then she has consolidated her knowledge and experience in the area of program evaluation by formal links with Prof. Mark Lipsey at Vanderbilt University and Prof. Stewart Donaldson at Claremont Graduate University. She has recently spent a two-month sabbatical at Claremont Graduate University, in order to learn about the latest developments in programme evaluation.
Before joining UCT, she ran her own consulting business, specialising in strategy, organisational structure and human resources.

Florence Ramabulane – System Analyst
Florence has a B Com Economics and extensive experience in international consultancy within the ICT sector and the public sector working with Blue Chip clients. Her areas of expertise include project management, business development, business process mapping and modelling, management consultancy, system development life cycle, trouble shooting and problem solving, change management and mentoring.
Her professional experience is wide ranging and she has worked in various sectors. Previous employers include Ernst and Young, the SA Parliament, Statistics South Africa, Standard Bank, B2BAfrica and Accenture.