Gita Naidu

Gita Naidu is a paediatric oncologist and the head at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, and the divisional head of paediatric oncology at Wits. Professor Shabir Madhi supervised her PhD on infectious complications in the South African black child with cancer, and, she completed a diploma in infectious diseases in the immunocompromised child at St Jude Children's Research Hospital, USA. She has received scholarships from Johnson and Johnson for her undergraduate studies and from the British Council for Higher Education, European Bone Marrow Transplant Society, and European Society for Haematology. She is engaged with outreach programmes locally and to eSwatini and Zimbabwe. She is involved with teaching and examining undergraduate and postgraduate medical students. Various research projects keep her busy: national cancer protocols for retinoblastoma, germ cell tumours, neuroblastoma, infections in children with cancer, nutrition (a co-recipient for a grant from the IAEA), antimicrobial stewardship, febrile neutropenia guidelines for South Africa, the "golden hour" for antibiotics in febrile neutropenia. She is currently an associate editor of the South African Journal of Oncology and editor of the South African Journal of Child health, a collaborator in several clinical trials, and on advisory boards in the pharmaceutical industry, the global retinoblastoma and Covid in children with cancer groups, the chairperson of the South African Children's Cancer Study Group, a member of the Anti-Microbial Stewardship Committee at Bara, on the Mentorship Committee at Wits, and coordinator of the sub-Saharan African tumour board meetings with St Jude's Research Hospital. She was recently elected as co-chair of the St Jude Outreach programme to Africa. She is a director of Reach for a Dream Foundation and Kids Kicking Cancer, and on the board of CHOC. The focus of her work is to promote and expand the training, teaching, and research in paediatric oncology nationally, and globally.