Bongani Mayosi

Bongani Mawethu Mayosi BMedSci, MB ChB, FCP(SA), DPhil, OMS (28 January 1967 – 27 July 2018) was a South African professor of cardiology[2][3] He was the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town and an A-rated National Research Foundation researcher.[4] Prior to this, he was head of the Department of Medicine at the University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital.[5] His father was a medical doctor and so is his wife;[6][7] his research interests included rheumatic fever, tuberculous pericarditis and cardiomyopathy.[8][9] He was a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and a former President of the College of Physicians of South Africa and he headed numerous other biomedical organisations during his career.[10][11]

In 2017 he was elected to the US National Academy of Medicine.[12] Professor Mayosi published over 300 peer-reviewed academic articles individually and collectively, including collaborating with eminent researchers like Salim Yusuf.[13][14][15] He was part of the team which discovered one of the gene mutations responsible for causing the life-threatening heart disease arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, this discovery was regarded as one of the most important medical advances in South Africa since the first human heart transplantation.[16][17]

Professor Mayosi served as the chairperson of the team appointed by the South African Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi to investigate irregularities and maladministration at The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), the organisation which registers, regulates and guides health professionals.[18] He was very involved in creating systems to train the next generation of physician-scientists; his vision included training 1000 of them across South Africa every year.[19] Mayosi raised over 250 million rands for research.[20]