Prof Michèle Ramsay
Nominee's Province:
Gauteng
Project Name/Description:
Prof Michèle Ramsay was the 2019 WINNER in the Distinguished Women Researchers – Natural (Physical and Life) and Engineering Sciences. Michèle Ramsay is a Professor of Human Genetics and Director of the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of the Witwatersrand. She holds the DST-NRF Research Chair in Genomics and Bioinformatics of African Populations, and is the President of the International Federation of Human Genetics Societies. Ramsay’s current research interests include the role of genomics variation in African populations in the context of rapidly changing environmental and demographic conditions, and bioinformatics approaches to the identification of genetic variants that contribute to disease in Africa. She is the principal investigator of the Africa Wits-INDEPTH Partnership for Genomic Studies (AWI-Gen), which is currently investigating genetic and environmental factors in cardiometabolic diseases in Africa. A total 10 500 participants have been recruited for the study, one of the largest of its kind to date, involving scientists from six groups in four African countries. Ramsay has also been providing broader leadership to the Human Heredity and Health in Africa consortium, which is funding AWI-Gen, including taking the lead on developing ethical guidelines and practices appropriate for Africa. An NRF B-rated researcher, Ramsay is a coprincipal investigator of the South African Human Genome Programme, and has published 179 peer-reviewed papers. She has mentored nine postdoctoral research fellows, supervised 50 MSc/PhD students to completion, and is currently supervising 12 postgraduate students. Ramsay is a member of various national and international learned societies, has organised several prestigious national and international conferences, and has served on the editorial board of and acted as reviewer for numerous leading journals.
