Dr Khumbulani Hlongwana, a PhD graduate in Public Health, is a Senior Lecturer and a Social Scientist in the Discipline of Public Health Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), experienced in teaching, supervising and conducting research, using qualitative and mixed-methods approaches, with over a dozen Masters and PhD students supervised to completion since 2018. He has nearly 20 years of research experience across diverse disease spectrum, covering HIV and AIDS, malaria and cancer, culminating in over 50 publications in peer-reviewed international and local journals, more than 60% of which are published in journals with Quintile One (Q1) Ranking. His research, teaching and supervision experience has enhanced his skills in postgraduate curriculum development and research capacity-building, as he runs several workshops to capacitate research supervisors and postgraduate students. He is currently part of the Task Team negotiating the collaboration between the Faculty of Medicine at Lund University (Sweden), the Discipline of Public Health Medicine (DPHM) and Health Economics & HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD) at University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) and also leading the Task Team that is developing the curriculum for Socio-Behavioural Stream (SBS) for a Master of Public Health Programme. In November 2021, he was invited by the University of Pretoria Faculty of Health Sciences to run a webinar on “The Use of Qualitative Research in Trials”.
Dr Hlongwana is a Co-PI and PI in several projects, including:
Co-PI in Multinational Lung Cancer Control Programme (MLCCP) involving Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Eswatini, Lesotho and Ethiopia (2017 – 2023);
Co-PI in Cervical Cancer Prevention, Access and Control (CCPAC) Programme in Zululand District, KwaZulu-Natal, through a Consortium of Health Systems Trust (HST), Genius Quality (GQ), Department of Health (DOH) and Cancer and Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Research Unit (CIDERU) (2022 – 2024);
Co-PI and a Leader of one Work Package in Dual Screening by Spectral Artificial Visual Examination (SAVE) for Female Genital Schistosomiasis (FGS) and cervical cancer (DUAL-SAVE-FGS), a consortium involving UKZN, Durban University of Technology (DUT) and Centre for Bilharzia and Tropical Health Research (CBTHR) (South Africa), Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (Mozambique), University of Eswatini (Eswatini), University of Copenhagen (Denmark), Universitetet i Agder and Oslo University (Norway), QCELL IKE (Greece) (2022 – 2025);
Lead PI in Healthcare Professionals’ Compassion Fatigue and Associated Effects of Caring for Patients with COVID-19 in Selected Hospitals in Durban and Mthatha, South Africa (2022 – 2024):
Dr Hlongwana was an investigator in a study titled “From malaria control to sustainable elimination: cluster randomised trial comparing targeted versus generalised vector control in South Africa” (TIRS), which involved the DOH, Wits University, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and the UKZN (2014 – 2017) and currently an investigator in a study titled “A multi-site, open-label non-inferiority trial to assess immunogenicity of two doses of the nonavalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine among children, adolescents and young adults (9-26 years) living with HIV vs three doses of nonavalent HPV vaccine among HIV uninfected young women (15-26 years) in Eswatini”, involving partners in Eswatini, USA and SA.
Dr Hlongwana has presented his work and also chaired sessions in various local and international conferences and served in Local Scientific Committee (LSC) for the 6th Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM Conference) held in Durban (06–11 October 2013), Regional Malaria Control Commission (RMCC) of the Lubombo Spatial Development Initiative (LSDI–a malaria control collaboration involving Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa) (2007-2011), Programme Review Panellist for Malaria Control Programmes (2008 – 2009). He has peer-reviewed for reputable journals, such as, Malaria Journal, Global Health Action, PLOS One, and BMJ Open and an external examiner and moderator for several Universities. He is a member of Biomedical Research Ethics Committee (2016 – to date) and served in the Executive of South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (SANCA – Durban) (2013 – 2015). He was part of the Expert Writing Group (EWG) commissioned by the National Department of Health to develop Lung Cancer Care Guidelines. He was also part of the Regional Task Team that developed Malaria Advocacy and Communication Framework (2010-2015) for SADC Member States. In 2018, Dr Hlongwana was invited by the South Africa’s National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI) to join the panel developing a country’s ten-year foresight for the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) aligned to the National Development Plan (NDP). He is one of the co-founders of the Early and Mid-Career Academic Platform (EMAP), a structure set to build new critical mass in the academic sphere and more recently, collaborated with colleagues to establish CIDERU.