TEAM MEMBERS
Prof Shahida Moosa
Head of Rare Disease Genomics
shahidamoosa@sun.ac.za
Prof Shahida Moosa is an internationally-trained clinician-scientist. She is a medical genomicist and combines her knowledge and skills of clinical genomics, bioinformatics, molecular biology and molecular genomics to lead the Rare Disease Genomics in South Africa research group. After completing her specialty training at Wits University, she obtained her PhD at the University of Cologne, Germany (summa cum laude), followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital. Prof Moosa is very passionate about bringing genomics to Africa and using these technologies to benefit African patients, especially those who are still undiagnosed. She is also committed to mentoring younger scientists, and to skills transfer and capacity building in southern Africa.
Prof Moosa has been awarded a C2 NRF rating in recognition of her status as an independent researcher and is the only Medical Geneticist in South Africa with an NRF rating. She serves as Section Editor (Clinical Genetics) for the European Journal of Human Genetics and as an expert on two ClinGen Gene Curation Expert Panels: ClinGen Syndromic Disorder Gene Curation Expert Panel and the ClinGen Skeletal Disorders Gene Curation Expert Panel.
Dr Farida Essajee
Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr Farida Essajee is a Paediatrician from Nairobi, Kenya. She is currently pursuing her sub-specialty training in Paediatric Neurology at Tygerberg Hospital. She is concurrently registered for an MPhil at Stellenbosch University and joined the RDGSA in 2020.
Kimberly Coetzer
Masters Candidate
Kimberly Coetzer obtained her BSc (Chemistry/Microbiology) from the University of the Free State in 2019. She moved to Cape Town in 2020 to pursue her BSc (Hons) at University of the Western Cape. Her honours project focused on bioinformatics and proteomics. She joined the RDGSA group in 2021 for her MSc (Human Genetics).
Samantha Bayley
Masters Candidate
Samantha Bayley obtained her BSc and BSc (Hons) from Stellenbosch University. She commenced her MSc (Human Genetics) within the RDGSA in 2020.
Reine Greef
Masters Candidate
Reine Greef is a medical laboratory scientist employed at Unistel Medical Laboratories, where she is responsible for prenatal chromosomal microarrays. She obtained her undergraduate qualifications at CPUT, and joined the RDGSA in 2019 as a part-time MSc (Human Genetics) candidate.
