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About Us

In 2010, the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) defined new requirements for specialist registration, which included the need for registrars to demonstrate research competence by completing a research project as part of a Master of Medicine. 

This has introduced numerous challenges for South African medical training institutions. Key amongst these is the limited time registrars have to complete their research whilst attending to their clinical duties and studying for College exams.

Research non-completion has several consequences, including delayed specialist registration, which could reduce the number of specialists available for appointment. Low-quality research outputs entering the public domain can negatively impact policies, government spending on healthcare and patient health outcomes. ​

In response to these challenges, the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences created the MMed Unit in 2014 under the leadership of Prof. Robert Gie. Following Prof. Gie's retirement in 2018, the Unit has transformed to become the Registrar Research Support Office (RRSO). ​

Under the management of Dr Emmanuel Obasa, the RRSO aims to support the development of research capacity amongst specialist (MMed and MPhil) registrars and their research supervisors.  The RRSO offers a consultation service and several research training initiatives for this unique group of clinical researchers. ​