Speakers:

• Dr. Azwi Takalani

Dr Azwi Takalani is a medical doctor and Fellow of the College of Public Health Medicine of South Africa (FCPHM – SA). She has a Masters of Medicine in Community Health (MMed – Comm Health). She dedicated over a decade to health systems strengthening with an emphasis on building capacity for managerial skills in data driven decision making to improve quality of care and safeguarding patient safety. She has an interest in Occupational Health and is currently doing her Postgraduate Diploma in Occupational Health at the University of Witwatersrand.

Azwi currently works as a Medical Monitor and Safety Physician with the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) and COVID-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN) operations in sub-Saharan Africa. The HVTN conducts all phases of clinical trials, from evaluating experimental vaccines for safety and immunogenicity to testing vaccine efficacy. NIAID formed the CoVPN whose mission is to conduct phase 3 efficacy trials for COVID-19 vaccines and monoclonal antibodies.

In this role she has been involved in clinical trials from protocol to clinical research site development and ongoing safety monitoring of trials throughout sub – Saharan and East Africa. She is currently part of the Safety Team on the Sisonke Trial, which provided early access to COVID -19 vaccines to Health Care Workers in South Africa.

• Dr Jenny Sapire

Dr Jenny Sapire is an Occupational Medical Practitioner who has been in the field of Occupational Health for the past 25 years. She completed her undergraduate medical degree and post graduate training in Occupational Health at Wits University in Johannesburg South Africa. She currently is employed at Life Employee Health Solutions where she has been for the past 21 years, working initially in the Occupational Health Clinics and currently in the role of Clinical Standards Manager.

She has a wide range of experience in the mining, metal industry and transport sectors. In her current position she is responsible for quality assurance and compliance and also provides a supportive and advisory role to key clients on Occupational Health related matters. She is a member of SASOM (SA Society of Occupational Medicine, SASTM (SA Society of Travel Medicine and MMPA (Mine Medical Professional Association).

• Safia Joseph

Safia is a counselling psychologist who has extensive experience in the field of employee wellbeing services and trauma and has been in clinical practice for almost 20 years. She was the Area Head of Psychological Services at the South African Police Services for 5 years and thereafter consulted in private practice, dealing with a range of psychosocial issues across different industries, both in the public and private sectors.

She is currently working as the Wellness Training Lead and clinical consultant for Life Employee Health Solutions. Her core areas of responsibility are providing innovative, clinical solutions on an individual and group level, to help employees achieve their potential personally and professionally. Using training as a medium that seeks to educate and proactively deliver health information, she encourages employees to take ownership of their emotional wellbeing. She believes that a happy, healthy employee is a productive employee, thereby ensuring a win-win for both, the employee and organization.