Pharmacometrics Africa: Stellenbosch University

Department of Global Health, Division of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Stellenbosch University. Prof. Dzikiti holds a PhD, MSc Clinical Epidemiology, MSc Biostatistics, BCom Applied Statistics, and she completed a 6-month applied pharmacometrics training program in 2025. Prof. Dzikiti has been a principal investigator of multiple research grants, including the South African Medical Research Council Self-Initiated Research Grant, Janssen/CTN International Fellowship by the CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network, and the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership Program. Prof. Dzikiti is a NRF C-rated scientist, establishing a track record of independence, showcasing promise as a research leader in maternal-child health and validating evidence through clinical trials, that may result in positive policy change and public health action. Prof. Dzikiti’s career aspirations are to expand her research portfolio and the impact of her work.

Honorary Research Fellow – MSc Biostatistics, PhD in Pharmacometrics Focus Area: Maxwell’s scientific interests centre on quantitative pharmacology, workflow automation, and the development of reproducible, audit-safe computational pipelines. He is passionate about capacity building in the quantitative sciences and dedicated to strengthening pharmacometrics expertise and infrastructure across Africa.

Prof. Standing is an academic and hospital pharmacist at University College London (UCL) who holds a PhD in Clinical Pharmacology and an MSc in Statistics and serves as an Extraordinary Professor in Pharmacometrics at Stellenbosch University. Prior to becoming a professor, he held two UK Medical Research Council academic fellowships (Methodology 2011-2015, Clinician Scientist 2015-2020), which led to the development of a paediatric pharmacometrics research group at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. The main research interests of the group are in undertaking clinical and pre-clinical pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PKPD) studies with the aim to improve the evidence base of medicines for children. Therapeutic areas include infectious diseases, oncology, critical care, and neurology. The group is funded from research council and European agencies, charities/non-profit, and pharmaceutical industry collaborations. In addition, Prof Standing leads a MSc module and short-course entitled “Pharmacometrics”, where students gain theoretical and practical computational knowledge on population PKPD.

BSc (Medical Physiology), BSc-Hons (Medical Biochemistry), and MSc candidate (SU) Ashmit is currently pursuing an MSc degree and is conducting research on the evaluation of tacrolimus response in renal transplant recipients at Tygerberg Hospital, South Africa, with a focus on model-informed precision dosing (MIPD). His work aims to optimize dosing strategies, enhance safety, and improve clinical outcomes in renal transplantation patients.

BSc (Human Physiology), BSc (Hons) Pharmacology, and MSc candidate (SU) Julien has an interest in model-informed precision dosing and the application of pharmacometric tools to optimise therapy in special populations, with a particular focus on biologic therapies. His current MSc research investigates the population pharmacokinetics of infliximab in South African patients with inflammatory bowel disease. He is committed to improving therapeutic outcomes through personalised dosing strategies in resource-limited settings and advancing the clinical application of pharmacology and pharmacometrics in patient care.

Medical doctor – Medical specialist in Clinical Pharmacology, Diploma in HIV Management, MMed (Clinical Pharmacology), Fellow of the College of Clinical Pharmacologists of South Africa, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, PhD candidate (SU) Current projects and research interests: Roland’s current field of study is the adherence and drug interactions in HIV-associated non-communicable diseases. Part of his doctoral studies will utilize a popPK model to describe and predict the optimal dose of metformin when co-administered with the interacting antiretroviral therapy drug dolutegravir. He is also the study lead of a large study investigating stroke in virally suppressed people with HIV and provides senior clinical input on pharmacometrics projects on tacrolimus, rifampicin, and tenofovir.

Neuroscientist, MSc (Molecular Biology), PhD in physiology (SU), Applied pharmacometrics training fellow Focus area: Rohan is a neuroscientist with an interest in physiological mechanisms involved in mental health disorders. Currently he is focussed on pharmacometrics; particularly how to incorporate computational approaches, and provide data-driven solutions to aid the way we treat mental health conditions. He is currently a fellow in Certara’s Applied Pharmacometrics Training Innitiative.

Medical doctor – Neurologist and PhD candidate (SU) Focus area: PhD student with research interest in pharmacotherapy of HIV and its intersection with cardiometabolic and neuropsychiatric comorbidities. I will be utilizing pharmacometrics to determine the PK/PD effects on dolutegravir and tenofovir among people living with HIV.

Pediatric Clinical Pharmacometrician (Paediatric Research Clinician and Pharmacometrician) – MPhil in Clinical Pharmacology (thesis – pharmacometrics) (distinction), Diploma Child Health, Desmond Tutu TB Centre (SU) and final year PhD candidate (UCT) (2018-2023) Focus area: Louvina is a medical doctor, working in paediatric TB/HIV clinical research and a final year PhD student in pharmacometrics at UCT. She acted as principal and sub-investigator in two former and current phase1-2 studies investigating novel drugs for the treatment of drug-resistant TB in children. As this was the first data globally for children treated with these drugs for drug-resistant TB, the findings directly informed international paediatric dosing and treatment recommendations, by WHO. She is a co-author on over 20 peer-reviewed publications which includes 4 as first author lead pharmacometrician and one WHO expert consultation report, focused on pharmacometrics.

Medical doctor – Clinical Pharmacologist, PhD Clinical Pharmacology (UCT) Focus area: Eric is the Head of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at Stellenbosch University and has various clinical and academic interests including optimising therapeutic care in the public sector and conducting investigator-initiated clinical trials. Pharmacometrics is a tool that could both inform more efficient clinical trial conduct (and pharmacokinetic data analysis); as well as implementing targeted concentration interventions for individual patients as part of clinical care. Growing pharmacometrics as a discipline and integrating it into clinical care is key to advancing health care in the public sector, specifically in the field of therapeutics. Eric therefore fully supports the development of pharmacometrics at Stellenbosch University.

Medical doctor – Clinical Pharmacologist and Pharmacometrician (Associate Director, Certara USA, Inc). Ahmed also serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Gombe State University.