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UCT RESEARCH REPORT 2012
Divisional Statistics
Permanent and Long-term Contract Staff
Professors
1
Lecturers
5
Lecturers (part-time)
6
Audiologists
3
Administrative Staff
1
Total
16
Students
Master’s
9
Karl Storz Fellow in Advanced Head and Neck Surgery
1
Staff and Research Fields
J.J. Fagan
Head and Neck Cancer; Developing World ENT
D.E. Lubbe
Rhinology;Minimally invasive cranial base surgery.
G.J. Copley
Paediatric ENT, ENT in primary care
E. Meyer
Otology. Paediatrics; Head and Neck
T. Harris
Otology; Head and Neck
O. Edkins
Sialendoscopy; General ENT
Contact Details
Postal Address: Division of Otolaryngology, Faculty of
Health Sciences, Anzio Road, Observatory, 7925
Tel: +27 21 406 6420
Fax: +27 21 448 8865
UCT General enquiries: +27 21 650 9111
UCT web: http://www.uct.ac.za
Department Of Surgery
Chris Barnard Division Of
Cardiothoracic Surgery
Head of Division: Professor Peter Zilla
Divisional Profile
The Division offers the full range of adult and paediatric
cardiac and thoracic surgery services, catering to all forms
of congenital heart disease, myocardial revascularisation
(on- and off-pump), cardiac valvular repair and replacement
surgery as well as thoracic aortic surgery. The only
exceptions are the use of long-term left ventricular assist
devices or the use of the artificial heart, both of which are
prohibitively expensive in a developing world scenario.
An envisaged ‘hybrid operating theatre’ has been approved
in principal and nearing the end of its planning stage.
While funding remains an issue, this facility will expand our
repertoire to include the most recent development in heart
valve replacement, namely transcatheter-delivered valve
prostheses. This procedure will not only offer to reduce
hospital stays but remove the costs of open heart surgery
thereby bringing heart valve treatment closer to the third
world where rheumatic disease remains highly prevalent.
As this technology is prohibitively expensive, special
training-arrangements were entered into with commercial
valve providers to increase affordability under public
hospital circumstances.
Moreover, the Cardiovascular Research Unit has been
focusing on developing alternative transcatheter devices
specifically aimed at the needs of a developing country
including collaborative studies with the medical device
industry and other international academic units to make
newer and more cost-effective devices more readily
available.
In this context, a UCT start-up company was formed
around IP developed in the Cardiovascular Research
Unit, receiving substantial funding –
inter alia
from the
Department of Science and Technology’s ‘Technology
Innovation Agency’ (TIA).
Divisional Profile (Cardiovascular
Research Unit)
2012 represented a difficult year financially where decades
of reliance on industry funding was largely replaced with a
dependency on institutional academic grants.