Where Technology Meets Innovation

Tsitsi Primrose Marote is a Senior Software Engineer at Bash and Co-Founder & CEO of Guardian Health and Guardian Health Medical Practices. She leverages technology, data, and healthcare innovation to improve access to quality healthcare, with a strong focus on underserved communities.

Dr. Maureen Tshabalala is a public health practitioner with over 20 years of experience in global and public health, with emphasis on Science of Improvement (SOI) and Health Systems Strengthening (HSS).

Dr. Yaseen Khan is a South African medical doctor and technology entrepreneur. He is the CEO and Co-Founder of EMGuidance (Essential Medical Guidance), the largest digital platform used by healthcare professionals in South Africa. EMGuidance provides locally relevant clinical decision support, professional development, and clinical workflow solutions across the healthcare ecosystem.

Strategic Partner and Co-Founder of Respocare, dedicated to advancing healthcare through innovation, strategic partnerships, and sustainable business growth. With a passion for building purpose-driven healthcare solutions, his focus is on identifying opportunities that improve patient outcomes, strengthen healthcare systems, and create lasting value across the industry.

Nabeela Cassim is a healthcare strategist with over a decade of experience spanning managed care, health economics, and value-based care, she has designed system-shaping innovations in public and private settings. Nabeela served on the B20 South Africa Social Inclusion Task Force and sits on the PMB Advisory Committee of the Council for Medical Schemes.

Boitumelo Vusani Mudumela is a clinical nephrology technologist by profession and a renal healthcare leader with nearly 20 years in South Africa’s renal care sector. She is Clinical Director of Renal Complex, operates dialysis practices, and leads community-based kidney screening in underserved communities to detect chronic kidney disease early.

Anton van Schalkwyk was involved with claims at Medical Scheme level from 2010-2014. He became intensively involved with coding from 2014, including CPT4, MDCM and ICD-10. In 2018 he became Clinical Coding Specialist at the South African Medical Association and in 2022-2025 Head of Clinical Coding at SAMA. He joined Insight Health Solutions as Clinical Coding Specialist. He is an AAPC trained coder with a passion for coding training and the enhancement that AI will bring to clinical coding in South Africa.

Co-founder and COO of CipherGenix, a healthcare AI security company developing Project Heimdall, a hardware-isolated architecture designed to protect deployed clinical AI models from adversarial attacks, data poisoning, model theft, and inference-layer tampering. Siyethaba also serves as COO of Gauteng AI Community, where Siyethaba helps build pathways for African AI founders, developers, and technology partners through founder development, education, and ecosystem partnerships. Through this work, Siyethaba focuses on helping healthcare and technology leaders adopt AI with stronger patient-safety, security, governance, and commercial-readiness foundations.

Nomfundo leads strategic account management and contributes to executive-level business growth. With over 20 years of experience in healthcare, she has held leadership positions across the pharmaceutical, medical device, and digital health sectors. She recently completed her MSc in Bioethics & Health Law, focusing her thesis on the ethical implications of adopting value-based healthcare in Africa. She also just completed her Value-Based Healthcare Black Belt Certification from the Value-Based Health Care Center Europe. 

A serial entrepreneur with a strong background in primary health care focusing on manufacturing, business development, and developing IT/Digital marketing initiatives and business development in this space. with over 30 years experience in the health care industry covering private health care, public sector and non-governmental organisations across the SADC region.

Advisor to the Office of the CEO on AI in Healthcare, guiding the ethical and responsible adoption of AI with a strong focus on patient rights, data integrity, regulatory oversight, and clinician empowerment in a rapidly evolving healthcare landscape.

Dr Phasha is a specialist Obstetrician and Gynaecologist in private practice, based in Parktown, Johannesburg. She provides comprehensive, personalised healthcare to women across all stages of life, from adolescence through menopause and beyond. She obtained her undergraduate medical degree from MEDUNSA, now known as Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, before completing her specialist training at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), where she qualified as a specialist in 2015. From 2016 to 2018, Dr Phasha worked at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, where she served the community while contributing to the training and development of medical students within the Wits academic circuit. In 2018, she established her private practice, with a strong focus on delivering compassionate, evidence-based and patient-centred care. Having been raised by teachers, Dr Phasha remains passionate about education and continues to support Wits University’s undergraduate medical training programme. Beyond medicine, Dr Phasha is an avid marathon runner, reflecting her commitment to discipline, endurance and a balanced approach to life.

Dr Mhlengi Vella Ncube, PhD is a public health and health policy expert whose work sits at the intersection of healthcare policy, research, innovation and health-system transformation. He currently serves as Head of the Unit for Health Policy and Research at the South African Medical Association (SAMA), where he contributes to policy analysis, evidence generation and strategic engagement on issues shaping the future of healthcare in South Africa. His expertise spans health policy, universal health coverage, healthcare financing, health systems strengthening, digital health and evidence-informed healthcare. He has contributed to national and international health-policy discussions, including work examining the implementation of South Africa’s National Health Insurance reforms and the broader challenges facing healthcare delivery and health-system sustainability. Dr Ncube has also developed a strong focus on the role of technology and artificial intelligence in healthcare. Through SAMA’s work on AI, he has contributed to discussions around the opportunities and challenges associated with AI adoption, including ethics, regulation, data privacy, infrastructure and responsible implementation. More recently, he played a key role in the SAMA Health Summit 2026, designing and co-facilitating discussions on the development of a National Electronic Health Record, bringing together perspectives on interoperability, patient-centred digital systems, cybersecurity, health data and technology-enabled care. With a strong commitment to evidence-based policy and healthcare innovation, Dr Ncube is particularly interested in how AI, digital health, health data and emerging technologies can be responsibly integrated into healthcare systems to improve access, quality, efficiency and equity. His work reflects a broader commitment to ensuring that technological advancement remains patient-centred, ethically governed and aligned with the realities of healthcare delivery in South Africa and across the African continent.

Prof Wim Delva is the founder and managing director of Katalitix, a data science consulting company specialised in health and healthcare. He was trained as a medical doctor and holds a PhD. Prior to founding Katalitix, he was the acting director for Stellenbosch University's School for Data Science and Computational Thinking, and before that he held academic positions at Ghent University in Belgium, ETH in Switzerland and Stellenbosch University. He is currently associate professor (extraordinary) in the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Stellenbosch University's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, as well as a research fellow at the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis. He has a passion for initiatives that accelerate learning, growth and societal impact, and leads an interdisciplinary team that produces innovative, high-quality results. Under his leadership, the team supports non-profits, universities, private companies and government entities with design, development and deployment of data infrastructure, data analytics and AI integration, in pursuit of more effective healthcare systems, clinical decision support, and better health outcomes.

A highly accomplished health executive with over 25 years of progressive experience spanning clinical practice, public health strategy, employee wellness, academic leadership, community health, and multi-sector stakeholder engagement. She has a proven track record of designing, implementing, and leading high-impact health programmes across government, NGO, private-sector, and academic environments. She holds a Bachelor of Dental Therapy, Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health, and Master of Medical Sciences, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Public Health. Her expertise encompasses employee wellness, oral health, public health programme development, health policy, community outreach, health promotion, and strategic health management. She is also a lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand, she contributes to teaching, student supervision, research, and curriculum development and review. Her academic and professional leadership experience enables her to bridge clinical practice, research, policy, and health-system priorities to deliver sustainable health outcomes. She is particularly passionate about community oral health and the development of innovative outreach programmes that improve access to quality healthcare for rural, underserved, and vulnerable communities. Her ability to engage effectively across diverse sectors and communities is further strengthened by fluency in eight South African languages, reflecting exceptional cultural intelligence and an inclusive leadership approach.

Rodney is a senior executive with more than 27 years of experience leading digital transformation, technology strategy and business growth across government, global technology organisations and financial services. He began his career in the public sector, serving for 12 years as Director of IT and subsequently Chief Information Officer at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), where he oversaw technology operations supporting South African embassies and consulates in 127 countries. He went on to hold senior leadership roles at IBM, Oracle and Microsoft, as well as in financial services and software, leading teams of up to 120 people and managing portfolios with accountability for $320 million in turnover and $80 million in profit. Today, Rodney advises C-suite executives and boards across Africa, Europe and the Middle East on cybersecurity, cloud strategy, artificial intelligence and customer experience, helping organisations translate complex technology into business value, operational resilience and sustainable growth. A passionate advocate for technology leadership and innovation, Rodney mentors emerging technology professionals through the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and MIT’s VMS Outreach Program. He serves on the UJ SCiiS Faculty Technopreneurship Centre board and chairs the ICT Advisory Board at Rhodes University. He also facilitates monthly CIO Roundtables and lectures at UJ and Rhodes University on AI, cybersecurity, cloud computing and digital transformation.

A HealthTech innovator, entrepreneur and author, and the Founder and CEO of Dolme Innovations, a technology company focused on advancing integrated digital healthcare infrastructure across Africa. Driven by a vision of more connected, accessible and data-driven healthcare systems, Tebogo leads the development of digital health solutions spanning healthcare interoperability, patient safety, pharmacy integration, telemedicine, chronic disease management and public health intelligence. Her work focuses on leveraging technology to strengthen healthcare delivery, improve patient outcomes and support more resilient health systems across the continent. Under her leadership, Dolme Innovations has developed a portfolio of digital health platforms, including the Central Health System (CHS) for integrated healthcare and interoperable health records; AdheraZa for pharmacy intelligence and medication management; Med Sentinel Africa for medicine safety surveillance; OutbreakWatch for disease surveillance and outbreak monitoring; and EMS-to-ER, which supports coordination between emergency medical services and healthcare facilities. Her portfolio also includes Chronic Wellness, a digital companion for people living with chronic conditions, and Evelyn Wellness, a women's health platform supporting menstrual health, pregnancy, postpartum care, perimenopause and menopause. As a keynote speaker and advocate for healthcare innovation, Tebogo contributes to discussions on digital health infrastructure, artificial intelligence, healthcare interoperability and the future of connected healthcare systems in Africa. Her work reflects a commitment to developing scalable, sustainable and patient-centred technologies that strengthen health systems and expand equitable access to quality healthcare.