​​​​​​​​​​Centre for Health Professions Education

Staff

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Director

Professor Susan van Schalkwyk, M Phil, PhD., is Professor in Health Professions Education and Director of the Centre for Health Professions Education in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences where she is involved in the supervision of Master's and PhD students, and faculty development. Her research interests include teaching and learning in the health professions, with a specific focus on postgraduate studies and academic writing. She is active in health professions education, both nationally and internationally, and is currently a member of the AMEE (Association of Medical Educationalists) Research and Faculty Development Committees, and an associate editor for The Clinical Teacher. She is a founding member of the Bellagio Global Health Education Initiative, an interdisciplinary, multinational effort to advance global health education worldwide, and leads the SAAHE health professions education research special interest group. She is a C-rated NRF researcher and has authored or co-authored more than 70 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.​

Tel:  +27 21 938 9874
Fax: +27 21 938 9046
Email: scvs@sun.ac.za

Senior Secretary: CHPE

 Mrs Edwardene Marais is the Senior Secretary for the CHPE and provides administrative support to the Director and other senior personnel of the CHPE. She is responsible for the day-to-day running of the Centre as well as organising various workshops and seminars.

Tel:  +27 21 938 9054 
Fax: +27 21 938 9046 
Email: marais5678@sun.ac.za 

Administrative Coordinator: MPhil and PhD in Health Sciences Education

Mrs Lorraine Louw has a Medical Secretarial Certificate from Tygerberg Technical College and is the Administrative co-ordinator of the MPhil in HPE. She provides administrative and secretarial support to the MPhil and PhD students in HPE.

Tel:  +27 21 938 9047
Fax: +27 21 938 9046
Email: lhl@sun.ac.za

Dr Alwyn Louw (PhD) completed the MEd in Educational Leadership and Didactics (Stellenbosch University) in 1991, and his PhD in Agriculture Education (Stellenbosch University) in 2005. After being a lecturer in agriculture for eleven years took up the current position of Senior lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences – based in the Centre for Health Professions Education. He developed a keen interest in Health Sciences Education since his appointment in 2007. He was the first Stellenbosch University fellow to complete the Sub-Sahara FAIMER Regional Institute (SAFRI) fellowship since its establishment in 2008. He is mainly responsible for the Faculty Development offerings to the faculty by the Centre for Health Professions Education and is also a module chair and lecturer in the MPhil programme of the Centre for Health Professions Education. He is also Module Chair of one of the first years modules and is also the head of the residence of Nkosi Johnson House - a residence for senior students.

Tel:  +27 21 938 9389 

Fax: +27 21 938 9046 

Email: ajnlouw@sun.ac.za 

Senior Lecturer / Head of Simulation and Clinical Skills Unit

Dr Elize Archer is a Critical Care Nurse by training. Since Elize joined the University of Stellenbosch in 2005 she is the manager of the Clinical Skills Centre, and from January 2015 she holds a senior lecturer post. She graduated from the University of the Free State (BSocSc Nursing) and Stellenbosch University (BSocSc Hons in Critical Care Nursing) and previously worked in private and government hospitals where she was largely responsible for the delivery of the Critical Care programmes. Elize completed her Masters in Higher Education (2008) and subsequently her PhD in Health Professions Education (2016). The focus of her PhD research was the teaching and learning of patient-centeredness in undergraduate medical students. She heads up a team of registered nurses who presents a formalized clinical skills curriculum to the undergraduate MB, ChB curriculum as well as provide support to all programmes making use of the SCSU.  

She was awarded a fellowship from the Center for Teaching and Learning at Stellenbosch University in 2017. This 3-year fellowship enabled her to spend dedicated time on the design and implementation of initiatives focused on the development of empathic communication skills in undergraduate curricula. To date the topic of Clinical empathy and how that is facilitated in HP curricula is very close to  her heart.

Elize is also the programme coordinator of the very popular MPhil in Health Professions Education that is presented by the CHPE. This 2-year programme has graduated many health professions educators across South-Africa and Africa. See the section under post graduate programmes for more information with regards to the offering. ​

Tel:  +27 21 938 9647
Fax: +27 21 938 9858
Email: elizea@sun.ac.za

Lecturer

Mrs Rhoda Meyer  is a registered Operating Room Nurse and has worked in various government and private hospitals both locally and internationally. Stemming from an interest in teaching and learning, she completed a Degree in Nursing Education and Management in 2011, followed by her MPhil in HPE through Stellenbosch University in 2014. She recently joined the CHPE as a lecturer. Rhoda is also PhD candidate in Health Professions Education at the CHPE. Her research focuses on the environment within private higher education, and its influences on teaching and learning. 

Email: rhodameyer@sun.ac.za​

Lecturer

Ms Mariette Volschenk (M Phil) manages the learning technologies team at the Centre for Health Professions Education. She is also a lecturer on the MPhil in Health Professions Education programme. Her key focus areas include learning experience design on the online platform and postgraduate teaching and supervision (MPhil in HPE). Mariette holds a primary degree in Nursing and Midwifery with specialist qualifications in Neonatal Critical Care and Nursing Education. She was the first candidate to complete the MPhil in Health Sciences Education programme at SU (2009, Cum Laude). She is currently a PhD candidate in Health Professions Education studies at the CHPE. Her research topic focuses on the identity trajectories of health professionals involved in master's level health professions education studies. ​

Email:  mvolschenk@sun.ac.za

Learning Technologies Technician 

Instructional Designer

Ms Kanita Brits graduated from North-West University (BSc Consumer Science) and UNISA (Postgraduate Certificate in Education) and completed her PGDip in Educational Technology at the University of Cape Town (UCT). She is the Instructional designer in the CHPE. Her key focus areas include working with subject matter experts to conceptualise, plan and design interactive instructional materials for traditional-led courses as well as web-based learning with the aim to integrate a blended approach and better facilitate teaching and learning within the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. She is currently doing an MPhil in Health Professions Education (Stellenbosch University). 

Mrs Ilse Meyer i s a registered Physiotherapist who graduated from Stellenbosch University (BSc in Physiotherapy and MPhil in HPE). She worked as a clinician in various government and private hospitals as well as in private practice. She continued her career as lecturer, clinical supervisor and clinical coordinator at the Physiotherapy division and joined the CHPE as a senior research assistant in 2017. 

Tel:  +27 21 938 9944
Fax: +27 21 938 9046
Email: imeyer@sun.ac.za

Senior Researcher

Professor Cecilia Jacobs has worked in Higher Education for the past 28 years. She is currently an Associate Professor in Higher Education at the Centre for Health Professions Education at the University of Stellenbosch. Prior to that she was the director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of Stellenbosch. She is an NRF-rated researcher and her research interests are in disciplinary literacies and how disciplinary knowledge is communicated through discipline-specific language. This was the focus of her doctoral research, and ensuing publications focused on the teaching of disciplinary literacies within disciplinary domains and its implications for academic developers and disciplinary specialists in higher education. Current research focuses on the question of knowledge and the importance of its centrality in debates on higher education teaching and learning.

Tel:  +27 21 938 9452
Fax: +27 21 938 9046
Email:  jacobsc@sun.ac.za

CHPE Academic associate

Professor Julia Blitz (BSc; MB BCh; M Prax Med; FCFP; PGCHE; FRCGP[Hon]; PhD), Professor in Health Professions Education,  is a family physician by clinical background. She started exploring academic aspects of higher education whilst working in Family Medicine at the University of Pretoria (1997 – 2008) and went on to complete a PhD in Health Professions Education in the Centre for Health Professions Education in 2018. She teaches on the MPhil, is involved in the supervision of Masters students' research and is looking forward to supervising PhD students. Her interests include selection into undergraduate health professions programmes, faculty development (especially for clinical teachers) and assessment. She is currently the Vice-Dean: Learning and Teaching in the faculty.

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Tel:  +27 21 938 9641
Email:  juliablitz@sun.ac.za

Simulation and Clinical Skills Unit (SCSU)

Clinical Facilitator

Sr Bronwen Espen, a registered Critical Care nurse, joined the clinical skills centre in 2009. She is responsible for late clinical rotation teaching in the MB, ChB programme and the Introduction to Emergency Medicine in 4th year. Her main interests are using simulation scenarios for teaching communication skills and teamwork. She is currently registered as an MPhil inHPE student at SU.

Tel:  +27 21 938 9935
Fax: +27 21 938 9858
Email: bespen@sun.ac.za

SCSU Coordinator & Clinical Facilitator

Sr Lizanne van der Walt is a Critical Care qualified nurse and has joined the SCSU as Coordinator and Clinical Facilitator in July 2019. Currently, she is the chair person for the Early Clinical Rotation, and assists with multiple administrative and teaching duties within the unit. Her field of interest is within the Teaching & Learning arena, especially focusing on the integration of e-learning and skills training. Currently, she is completing her second year of MPhil in Health Professions Education. 

Tel: +27 21 938 9935
Email: lvdwalt@sun.ac.za

Clinical Facilitator

Ms Elsbeth Spies graduated from US (B.Cur). She worked in the private hospital sector as a registered nurse in the trauma division after which she studied her post-graduate Diploma in Emergency medicine through UNISA. In 2012 she obtained her Nursing Education Diploma (US), lecturing undergrad nursing students at a private nursing college and working as a clinical facilitator in various private hospitals. She joined the team in the CSCU at Tygerberg in October 2019 as a clinical facilitator.

Tel: +27 21 938 9830

Email: espies@sun.ac.za

Clinical Trainer

Mrs Cornelia Smuts graduated from the US (B.Cur  Nursing) in 1994. She is a trained critical care nurse and did her Diploma in Medical and Surgical Critical Care nursing at RAU. She worked both in government and private hospitals. Cornelia also nursed in The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in the UK from 1997-1999. From 2017 Cornelia worked as a clinical facilitator in the SCSU. She is involved in the teaching of practical procedures to the ICM, ECR,  dentistry students. She is also the secundi of the ECR medical students.

​Administrative Officer

Laboratory Assistant

Ms Anna Skotz is a Laboratory assistant in the Clinical Skills Centre.

Tel:  +27 21 938 9633 
Fax: +27 21 938 9858 
Email: askotz@sun.ac.za

Language Facilitator Coordinator

Ms Fezeka Dyubeni is an isiXhosa clinical communication language facilitator. She graduated from Stellenbosch University (BA.Hons) in isiXhosa. She is currently completing her (MA) specialising in syllabus design for dietetics and health professionals in isiXhosa clinical communication at Stellenbosch University. Previously, she has been an isiXhosa second additional language teacher at primary and high schools as well as isiXhosa home language Tutor at UWC. In 2007, Fezeka’s passion for isiXhosa and promotion of multilingualism prompted Minister of Education Mr Cameron Dugmore, to approach her to be part of the team that had to design isiXhosa second additional language syllabus for primary and junior secondary schools of the WCED. This made her instrumental in introducing, promoting multilingualism and to add substance to government policy in Western Cape schools. Consequently, the WCED recommended her to assist in initiating the implementation of FMHS isiXhosa teaching in 2011-2012.

Clinical Communication Language Facilitator 

Ms Nontsikelelo Masiba (Ntsiki) is a language facilitator in Clinical Skills Communication (IsiXhosa). She has previously worked as an educator and has been teaching IsiXhosa as Second Additional Language (SAL) for about 10 years. She has graduated from Stellenbosch University (Bed Hons).Her experience includes e-Learning facilitation with the Western Cape Department of education (WCED).

Clinical Communication Language Facilitator  

Ms Linda Mhlabeni is an isiXhosa clinical communication language facilitator. Ever since she arrived at Stellenbosch University in 2012 she has been an anchor of the complementary isiXhosa Clinical Communication (XCC) and Afrikaans Clinical Communication (ACC) courses e-Lessons she developed and designed under the auspices of Speech-Language and Hearing Therapy and the Language Centre. She continues this role and co-ordinates these language learning on-line interventions at CHPE.  Linda’s e-Learning-focused role has since extended to ad hoc teaching of XCC. She graduated from the University of Namibia (UNAM), Windhoek (BEd. Hons) with specialisation in Curriculum Studies. She also recently obtained her Master's degree in Education (M Ed) from the University of Cape Town. Previously, she taught Afrikaans to adult learners and she was involved in training teachers in requisite areas identified by Namibian Department of Education using the skills she acquired as a qualified trainer. Primarily, she taught English First Additional Language (FAL) and Second Additional Language (SAL) at two secondary schools in Windhoek, Namibia and at a TVET College in Cape Town. Linda has first language proficiency in 3 languages, isiXhosa, Afrikaans and English. Her areas of interest and research focus are language acquisition and learning as well as the implementation of technology during teaching and learning.

Tel: +27 21 938 9672
Email: lmhlabeni@sun.ac.za