Honour for Dr Rene Heitner

Wits alumnus Dr Ren?eitner, (MBBCh Wits 1966), was granted an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in April 2009 in the UK.

The citation read: ?Dr Ren?eitner has been responsible for introducing treatment for lysosomal disorders in South Africa. Tay-Sachs disease was the first of these disorders described followed by Gaucher disease. Many children who would otherwise have died now benefit from therapies introduced by Dr Heitner?s persistence and devotion to his patients. He has successfully negotiated with the South African government and the pharmaceutical industry to introduce a sustainable model for these rare disorders. In 2004 he was awarded the Jewish Humanitarian of the year Award. He presents frequently at international paediatric meetings.?

The award ceremony was held on the 1 April 2009 at the University of York (UK). His wife Yvonne, mother Madeleine (who is almost 91 years old) and his daughter Nikki, flew to the UK to celebrate the honour with him.

Photograph: Dr Heitner with Professor Pat Hamilton, President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. Photograph courtesy of Costas Christodoulou.

Dr Ren?eitner was born in 1943 in Brussels during the War and is a holocaust survivor. He emigrated to South Africa in 1950. He obtained a MBBCh from Wits in 1966; MFGP(SA), 1973 converted to Fellowship, FCFP(SA) 2007; DCH (SA) 1975; FCP(SA)Paed 1979, converted to Honorary Life Fellowship 2008; Honorary Fellowship Royal Collage of Paediatrics and Child Health April 2009. He also won a Jewish Humanitarian Award in 2004.

Dr Heitner spent eight years general practice before going into private paediatric practice in 1980. He is an Honorary Consultant in the Department of Paediatrics. His has a special interest in Lysosomal Storage Disorders (mainly Gaucher Disease, Fabry Disease, Pompe Disease, Mucopolysaccharidoses, types I, II and VI) since early 1980s.

He is married to Yvonne (Nussbaum) Heitner, BA (Wits) 1966, TTHD, Dip Rem Ed Wits. They have three children, all Wits graduates: Ryan, BCom(Hons); Stephen, MBBCh and Nicole (Heitner) Heyman BA (Sp & H) Therapy, Dip Rem Ed (RAU) Cum Laude.

POSTGRADUATE EXPERIENCE

Medical houseman: January 1967 - June 1967: Johannesburg Hospital

Surgical houseman: July 1967- December 1967: CoronationHospital

Senior paediatric houseman: January 1968 - June 1968: Transv l Memorial Hospital for Children, Johannesburg

Military Medical Officer: July 1968 - July 1969: South African Defence Force. Work involved was mainly adult medicine and paediatrics; Care of the permanent force members? children.

Private general/family practice: July 1969 - December 1975

Paediatric registrar: January 1976 - December 1979: Transv l Memorial Hospital for Children, Baragwanath Hospital, Coronation Hospital, Johannesburg Hospital

Private paediatric practice: January 1980 to present.

ACADEMIC POSITIONS INCLUDE

Consultant in Family Medicine, January 1971-December 1974. Department of Medicine, Wits

Medical Officer, Infectious Diseases, January 1971-December 1974, Johannesburg Fever Hospital

External Examiner, Department of Special Education, Wits, 1982-1985

Honorary Consultant/Lecturer and Examiner, Department of Paediatrics, Wits, January 1980 ? present

Consultant/Lecturer, Children?s Haematology and Oncology Clinic, Johannesburg Hospital, January 1980 ? 1997

Established and Head of Gaucher Clinic at the Johannesburg Hospital in the Department of Paediatrics of the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital and Wits, January 1994 - present.

The Gaucher Clinic treats all patients with Gaucher Disease irrespective of age. In addition, patients with other lysosomal storage disorders such as Fabry disease, Pompe Disease, MPS syndromes are now also seen and treated in the clinic.

Examiner, College of Medicine of South Africa.

Editor, PEDMED, 1991 ? 1995.

PUBLICATIONS

9 publications in various Journals

Contributing author to The Paediatric Prescriber. Pub. Blackwell.

TRIALS

CO- INVESTIGATOR

Safety of F.P./Na Cromoglycate 12-47 months FA 30009

Perennial Allergic Rhinitis in Children ? RPCEDID 1201

FUN Study- SD- 0307714

Comparative Study of Ciclesonide and FP in Children (BY9010/FK1-202)

Start study SD 004-0111

Prime Study BY217/M2-017

Essence Study By9010/M1-139

BY9010/M1-206 Ciclisonide study in Children

GIGEo25A1A05 Safety pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of Omalizumab in Children

PRINCIPLE INVESTIGATOR

Imiglucerase small molecule therapy for Gaucher Disease. Trial ongoing from 1998 to present.

Use of Myozyme in infantile Pompe Disease.

Use of Aldurazyme in Hunter?s Syndrome.

Use of Plant Cell Expressed Recombinant Human Glucocerebrosidase in Gaucher Disease.

TrialHGT-GCB-039. Use of a wild type enzymatic enzyme preparation for the treatment of Gaucher Disease

SELETED RECENT MEETINGS AND SEMINARS

Invited delegate to First World Gaucher Conference, Amsterdam 1993.

Delegate to Third World Conference on Paediatric Infectious Diseases, Acapulco 1996

Invited delegate to Asthma Symposium, South Africa, 1996, and 1997.

Invited speaker at the 75th Anniversary Symposium of the University of the Witwatersrand, 1998.

Invited speaker at World Gaucher Conference, Philadelphia, 1995, Israel 2000.

Invited speaker at the Milllipaed Conference, Sun City 2000.

Presentation at EWGGD, Barcelona, 2002

Speaker SAPA Meeting, Cape Town 2004

Chairman at session on Mucopolysaccharidoses at the Inborn Errors of Metabolism (ICIEM), Japan 2006

Speaker on Pompe?s Disease at the Asia-Pacific LSD meeting, Japan 2006

European LSD Meeting, Stockholm, 2006

Invited speaker, World Gaucher Registry Meeting , Phoenix 2004

Organiser, Chairperson and Speaker at the First LSD Conference in South Africa, 2007

Speaker at the Paediatric Refresher Course,UCT2007

Grand Rounds presentation Albert Einstein Hospital, Philadelphia USA

Invited speaker Round Table Gaucher in Pregnancy Amsterdam 2007

Poster presentation at the 10th Asia Pacific LSD meeting.

Invited speaker Asia Pacific LSD meeting 2007

Invited chairperson 6th Scientific Symposium on Lysosomal Disease, Athens 2008

Invited speaker at the Gaucher leader Forum, Milan 2009