The CHRU Team

Scientific leadership team

Consultant – TB

Dr Francesca Conradie

Dr Francesca Conradie supports the global research agenda to eradicate TB by 2030, a goal set by the World Health Organisation (WHO). She is the founding member of CHRU's clinical research sites at Sizwe Hospital in Johannesburg, the King Dinuzulu TB Research Unit in Durban and Isango Lethemba TB Research Unit in Gqeberha where studies focus on delivering more effective, tolerable and safe ways of treating patients with Drug Resistant (DR-TB). Rifampicin Resistant TB (RR-TB), in all of its forms from rifampicin mono-resistant TB to Extensively Drug Resistant TB (XDR-TB) remain key barriers to achieving the WHO goal. Dr Conradie has been involved in several breakthroughs in the treatment of these difficult-to-treat forms of TB. She was part of the Bedaquiline trial and the subsequent incorporation of this drug as a WHO recommendation and into South Africa’s national TB programme. She was the Principal Investigator for the TB Alliance’s NIX trial which led to the registration by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of BPaL for XDR-TB. Dr Contradie holds the USAID BEAT Tuberculosis grant which investigates a short all-oral regimen for RR-TB. She is a member of the South African National Department of Health’s TB Advisory Committee and Vice-Chair of the ACTG Protocol Team for the A5343 and A5356 trials.

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Other members

Professor Ian Sanne

Professor Ian Sanne is a South African-born infectious disease doctor whose research focuses on an integrated program of HIV, HIV co-infectious diseases, TB and COVID-19 research from prospective phase I to IV clinical trials, conducted predominantly through international collaborations. He is the founding member of CHRU and of the health non-profit organisation, Right to Care. He was CEO of Right to Care from 2001 until 2023. He is the Principal Investigator of the Wits HIV Research Group Clinical Trials Unit and is the Adult AIDS Clinical Trial Group (ACTG) International Vice-Chair, responsible for its research at 25 international sites in 13 countries and prioritising its research agenda. At present he also serves as the Chief Medical Officer at The Palladium Group.

Dr Mohammed Rassool

Dr Mohammed Rassool conducts clinical research in the treatment and prevention of HIV, HIV co-infections, TB, DR-TB, DS-TB, MDR-TB and other opportunistic infections. He is affiliated to the University of the Witwatersrand and is responsible for the TB portfolio at CHRU. He is also involved with industry-funded HIV and COVID-19 research. He is the Principal Investigator and sub-investigator on multiple international collaborative COVID-19, HIV and TB research protocols. The impact of this research has improved South African Department of Health and World Health Organisation treatment guidelines, with results published in peer-reviewed articles. Through collaboration with partners such as the NIH, BMBF, EDCTP, Global TB Alliance, Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF), pharmaceutical companies, the TB Union and USAID, his research informs global research requirements. Dr Rassool has extensive experience in both protocol implementation and clinical research site management. His research also focuses on TB vaccine efficacy and HIV prevention. He is also a member of the NIH ACTG Network’s TB Transformation Scientific Group

Dr Sharlaa Badal-Faesen

Dr Badal-Faesen is an infectious diseases researcher who conducts clinical research in HIV, drug-resistant HIV, HIV co-infectious diseases, HIV comorbidities, TB, Hepatitis B and C and COVID-19. She is affiliated to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and serves as a member of its Health Research Ethics Committee. Dr Badal-Faesen participates in National Institutes of Health (NIH) global collaborative research, providing evidence-based outcomes to improve treatment guidelines. Key outcomes of her research include the effective use of ART for the prevention of HIV-1 transmission in discordant couples, the reduction of cardiovascular events in people living with HIV, and the safety and efficacy of the Single-Do se Ad26.COV2.S in COVID-19 prevention (the Ensemble COVID-19 vaccine study). She is also involved in research exploring the long-term use of ART and the increase of comorbidities in ageing populations. Dr Badal-Faesen is a member of numerous scientific research committees, protocol teams and the NIH ACTG network’s Performance Evaluation Committee.

Dr Pauline Howell

Dr Pauline Howell is the Clinical Research Site (CRS) leader at the Sizwe CRS located at the Sizwe Tropical Disease Hospital in Johannesburg. Her research focus is on delivering shorter, safer, more effective and tolerable ways of treating drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) in children and adults, and during pregnancy. She is affiliated to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and teaches DR-TB to under- and post-graduate students. She is pleased to have been an investigator in landmark DR-TB trials - STREAM, Nix and ZeNix which shaped WHO guideline changes, as well as several IMPAACT paediatric DR-TB trials which have also contributed to WHO guideline updates. Dr Howell continues to be involved in access programmes, including the bedaquiline and delamanid Compassionate Access Programmes (CAP) as well as the BPaL CAP. She is the clinical medical monitor for the pragmatic BEAT-Tuberculosis trial, vice-chair on the IMPAACT 2034 and IMPAACT 2020 protocols, member of the Gates MRI Concilium, chair of the BringBPaL2Me safety committee, and a task member on the CHEETA initiative. Dr Howell has worked in DR-TB for the last ten years and presents widely.