Zühlke Liesl Johanna

Zühlke is vice-president of the South African Medical Research Council, responsible for extramural research and internal portfolio and directs the Children’s Heart Disease Research Unit focusing on relevant pediatric heart diseases in Africa. She has authored more than 250 publications, including conference proceedings and book chapters, with an h-index of 58. She has more than 74,000 citations and was a finalist for South Africa in the Women in Science Award. In 2018, she received the MRC/DFID African Research Leader Award, the winner of the NRF award for Social Impact in Research, the International Metrodora Award for Public Health and Research and the UCT vice-chancellors Alan Pfifer Award for research. She was recently inducted into the prestigious University of Cape Town College of Fellows, the university’s highest academic honour, and is a member of the South African Academy of Sciences. She a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, European Society of Cardiology and American Heart Association. She is a B-1 rated researcher by the National Research Foundation, past-president of the Paediatric Cardiac Society of South Africa and the South African Heart Association.