Thursday, 12/02/2026 · 12:00
London (GMT +0:00)
Cost: Free
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Catherine Draper
Editor-in-Chief, The Lancet Regional Health - Africa, South Africa
Catherine Draper is based in Cape Town, South Africa. Prior to starting as the Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet Regional Health - Africa in September 2025, she held an Associate Professor position at the University of Witwatersrand (South Africa; 2020-2025, previously Senior Researcher). Catherine has an MA in Research Psychology and a PhD in Public Health, both from the University of Cape Town (South Africa), where she also completed her postdoctoral research fellowship and worked as a Senior Researcher until 2017. Catherine has published more than 170 peer-reviewed articles and led the Series on 'Early childhood development and the next 1000 days', published in The Lancet in 2024. Her research interests include implementation science, qualitative research methods, and early childhood development. Catherine has been involved in research studies on child development, and maternal and child health in South Africa. She is passionate about doing research that can contribute to social change at community level.
Hlengiwe Madlala
Senior Editor, The Lancet Regional Health - Africa, South Africa
Hlengiwe Madlala is based in Cape Town, South Africa. Prior to joining The Lancet Group, Hlengiwe worked at the University of Cape Town (South Africa) for ten years, starting as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Human Biology, and progressing through several research and academic roles before becoming a Senior Lecturer in the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She has a BSc in Biomedical Sciences, MSc and PhD degrees in Human Physiology from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa), completing part of her doctoral research at KU Leuven in Belgium. Hlengiwe also obtained an MPH in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the University of Cape Town (South Africa) and an MBA from Management College of Southern Africa (South Africa). She has 38 publications in maternal and child health, HIV, and cardiometabolic disease research. Hlengiwe is passionate about research that addresses pressing public health challenges impacting underrepresented populations.