Medicine and Health Sciences
Welcome to Stellenbosch University

Perioperative Sciences


The Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care of Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital is committed to responsible and scientific patient care by adhering to known scientific principles and continuing research. The department places a high premium on the development of critical judgement in under- and postgraduate students. The department is intensely involved with the total operating room activity and perioperative patient care at Tygerberg Hospital, in all surgical disciplines. Furthermore the department has a well-established track record in research in Critical Care. The special combination of clinical research, big animal laboratory research and the option to do small animal research, allows the department to contribute to the scientific development of Anesthesiology and Critical Care in South Africa and internationally.

The Department of Family and Emergency Medicine consists of two divisions. The Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care builds research capacity and conducts research to address priority research questions in these focus areas. The Division collaborates with health services to improve service delivery and have a social impact. In addition, the Division promotes environmentally sustainable and resilient health services. The Division of Emergency Medicine outputs include the postgraduate research outputs from the MMed and PhD programmes. We also pursue research in various other aspects of emergency care, including point-of-care ultrasound, teaching, learning and assessment, as well as collaborative research on Trauma and Toxicology.

The Department of Medicine has divisions of Cardiology, Dermatology, Endocrinolog, Gastroenterology, General Internal Medicine, Haematology, Infectious Diseases, Nephrology, Neurology, Clinical Pharmacology, Pulmonology, and Rheumatology. Each division is actively engaged in research.

The Department of Surgical Sciences has divisions of Cardiothoracic surgery, Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedics, Otorhinolaryngology, Paediatric surgery, Plastic reconstructive surgery, Surgery, and Urology. Research activity is largely clinically orientated and is incorporated into normal service delivery. ​

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