Salome Maswime

Salome Tumishang Maswime
Maswime in 2026
Alma materUniversity of KwaZulu-Natal
University of the Witwatersrand
Scientific career
WorkplacesUniversity of Cape Town
University of the Witwatersrand
Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital
ThesisReducing maternal morbidity and mortality from caesarean section-related haemorrhage in Southern Gauteng

Salome Maswime is the Head of School of Clinical Medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand. She is a clinician-scientist, a global health expert, and a pioneer in academic global surgery. She is an obstetrician and gynaecologist and the inaugural Head of Global Surgery at the University of Cape Town.[1][2] She advocates for women's health rights, equity in surgical and maternal care, and providing adequate health services to remote and underserved populations.[3] She advises and consults for many institutions, including the World Health Organization.[4] In 2017, she was honored with the Trailblazer and Young Achiever Award. She is a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa.[5] She is the former head of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre on Integrated Clinical Care. She serves as the vice-chairperson of the Health Professions Council of South Medical and Dental Professions Board and a council member. Her qualifications include, an MBChB at UKZN, FCOG(SA), MMED and PhD in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Wits University, and a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. She has a Certificate in Higher Education Teaching from Harvard University, and a Certificate in Leading Organizations and Change from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Salome has worked in several hospitals in South Africa as a medical doctor and specialist.

Early life and education

Salome Maswime is from Limpopo.[6] Her father was a theology professor at the University of Venda.[2] She graduated in medicine from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2005.[7] During her medical internship, she saw two mothers die in a maternity ward in Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal.[8] This experience inspired her to train as a specialist obstetrician and gynecologist, as she feared she would "remain part of the problem that was leading to many preventable and unjust maternal deaths."[2]

Maswime spent a decade at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto.[2] During this time, she realized she wanted to continue her formal education to understand the underlying causes of negative outcomes for mothers and neonates in childbirth.

She secured a PhD position supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the South African Medical Research Council that allowed her to find ways to improve the lives of mothers and infants.[6] She completed her Masters and PhD theses at the University of the Witwatersrand, where she looked to reduce maternal morbidity from caesarean section related haemorrhage across 15 hospitals in Gauteng.[6][9][2]

Salome is married to Gundo Vhusani Maswime, and they have two children.

Career

Maswime is an executive member of the South African Perioperative Research Group.[10] She is a member of the International Network of Obstetric Survey Systems.[6] She was a lecturer and Director of the University of the Witwatersrand Obstetrics and Gynaecology Clinical Research Division and an obstetrician at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital Academic Hospital.[11] She works with women with high risk pregnancies.[12] Her research considers maternal near miss and mortality.[9][13] She found that maternal deaths from bleeding during caesarean sections have increased in South Africa.[14] She compared the preparedness of hospitals for surgical complications in caesarean sections in southern Gauteng.[13]

Maswime discovered that Africa accounts for 200,000 maternal deaths per year; which is two thirds of all maternal deaths worldwide.[7] In 2017, she was named by the Mail & Guardian as one of the Top 200 South Africans.[15][16] She has written for The Conversation about increasing the number of caesarean sections in Africa.[7][17] She won the Trailblazer and Young Achiever Award from Jacob Zuma in 2017.[18]

In 2018, she launched the South African Clinician Scientists Society, a collegial group for emerging specialists and researchers returning from training abroad that facilitates mentorship, networking, and multidisciplinary research.[19][20] She was awarded a Discovery Foundation Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital Fellowship in 2018.[21][22][23] Her fellowship allows her to research the causes of stillbirths in HIV-positive people.[24] The fellowship is worth R2.1 million.[24] During her postdoctoral year, Maswime found herself one of only two people at meetings at the World Health Organization or UNICEF.[2] She also worked on her approach to mental health as it relates to mothers and children.

In 2019 she was appointed as a Professor of Global Surgery at the University of Cape Town.[1] In 2020, she was announced as one of the World Economic Forum's Class of 2020 Young Scientists, a group of 25 notable researchers who are "at the forefront of scientific discovery."[25]

Salome is a member of the College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Council in the College of Medicine South Africa. She is the Chairperson of the South African, and the SADC Safe Surgical Care Technical Experts Working Group, and a member of the United Nations Core Stillbirths Estimates Group. She is the past Chair of the Health Systems Trust Board and previously served as their Interim CEO. She is the Vice-Chair of the Lifebox Board. She is a Member of the Academy of Scientist and a Y-rated Scientist with the National Research Foundation. She received the International Healthcare Practitioner award from Zenith Global Health in the UK in 2025.

Since 2026, she has been the Head of School of Clinical Medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand.

References

  1. 1 2 administrator (5 August 2019). "SAMRC funding impacts on young scientist's success journey". South African Medical Research Council. Archived from the original on 13 July 2020. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lane, Richard (4 July 2020). "Salome Maswime: dynamic leader in global surgery". The Lancet. 396 (10243): 17. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31448-3. ISSN 0140-6736. PMC 7332270. PMID 32622386.
  3. ↑ "20 Under 40: Young Shapers of the Future (Health and Medicine) | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  4. ↑ "A/Prof Salome Maswime | Global Surgery". www.globalsurgery.uct.ac.za. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  5. ↑ "Members – ASSAf". Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Johannesburg, The University of the Witwatersrand. "2017 - Witsie is honoured as Young Trailblazer and Achiever - Wits University". www.wits.ac.za. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 "Salome Maswime". The Conversation. 6 April 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  8. ↑ "Dr Salome Maswime – 2017". ysa.mg.co.za. Archived from the original on 13 July 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  9. 1 2 Maswime, Salome; Buchmann, Eckhart (24 January 2017). "A systematic review of maternal near miss and mortality due to postpartum hemorrhage". International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics. 137 (1): 1–7. doi:10.1002/ijgo.12096. ISSN 0020-7292. PMID 28099749. S2CID 3253550.
  10. ↑ "South African Perioperative Research Group - News". www.saporg.co.za. Archived from the original on 17 August 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  11. ↑ "Media briefing on newly appointed NYDA board | South African Government". www.gov.za. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  12. ↑ "Salome Maswime -". Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  13. 1 2 Maswime, Salome; Buchmann, Eckhart (September 2016). "Causes and avoidable factors in maternal death due to cesarean-related hemorrhage in South Africa". International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics. 134 (3): 320–323. doi:10.1016/j.ijgo.2016.03.013. ISSN 0020-7292. PMID 27352737.
  14. ↑ Maswime, S.; Buchmann, E. J. (9 January 2017). "Why women bleed and how they are saved: a cross-sectional study of caesarean section near-miss morbidity". BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. 17 (1): 15. doi:10.1186/s12884-016-1182-7. ISSN 1471-2393. PMC 5223297. PMID 28068945.
  15. ↑ Johannesburg, The University of the Witwatersrand. "2017-07 - Witsies recognised in M&G's 200 Young South Africans 2017 - Wits University". www.wits.ac.za. Archived from the original on 17 August 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  16. ↑ Pilane, Pontsho (11 August 2017). "Black experts in the health sector: Where are they?". Bhekisisa. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  17. ↑ "African women need access to Caesars". News24. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  18. ↑ "President Jacob Zuma: National Youth Day Commemoration 2017 speech". Archived from the original on 17 August 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  19. ↑ "High Flying UKZN Alumnus Forms Clinician Scientists Society". UKZN. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  20. ↑ Maswime, Salome; Masukume, Gwinyai; Chandiwana, Nomathemba (21 November 2018). "African clinician scientists — mentors and networks help". Nature. 563 (7732): 473. Bibcode:2018Natur.563..473M. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-07455-1. PMID 30464272. S2CID 53717311.
  21. ↑ DiscoverySA (1 August 2018), Dr Salome Maswime is determined that no mother should lose her baby at birth, retrieved 16 August 2018
  22. ↑ Johannesburg, The University of the Witwatersrand. "2018 - Alumni in the news July 2018 - Wits University". www.wits.ac.za. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  23. ↑ "Dr Maswime believes no mother should lose her baby | Health - Discovery". www.discovery.co.za. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  24. 1 2 "Dr Maswime wins Foundation MGH Fellowship Award | Health - Discovery". www.discovery.co.za. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  25. ↑ "These 25 scientists are tackling the most important global challenges". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
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