Speakers

 Dr Thulani Ngwenya is a distinguished sports medicine professional with extensive experience in international sporting events, athlete health and anti-doping. His credentials include serving as a Doping Control Officer at major FIFA and AFCON tournaments, a CAF U17 Eligibility Panel Member, and Team South Africa’s Chief Medical Officer at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, with further Olympic and Commonwealth Games experience.

Dr Ngwenya also served on the Return to Sport Adjudication Committee under DSAC and are the author of Sports Medicine: My Love & Passion.

Pierre Meintjes Spies is an internationally recognised sport scientist, strength and conditioning specialist, and the Global Lead Educator for Wattbike. With more than seventeen years of experience in elite performance, he is known for his expertise in off‑feet conditioning, athlete profiling, sport technology integration, and evidence‑based performance systems used by high‑performance organisations worldwide.

As founder of Sport Science & Conditioning (PTY) Ltd, Pierre has developed athlete‑development frameworks, testing systems, and applied sport science education across rugby, football, cricket, boxing, and multidisciplinary performance environments. His work emphasises practical, data‑driven methods that enhance athlete readiness, reduce injury risk, and elevate conditioning standards across diverse sporting cultures.

Lee-Anne Diab holds an honors degree in Sport Science from the North-West University. Her main field of interest is the Science of Recovery and Brain Health. 

Lee-Anne is a unique academic that can bring the theory and practical aspect of Sport Science to the table, with a strong focus on both clinical and practical
implementation. She has a passion for continuous learning and purposefully strives towards creating more opportunities to empower and mentor aspiring sport scientists. 

She is the former Blue Bulls Sport Scientist and Founder of Fierce Pro Recovery: a leading Sports Medicine, Brain Health and Sport Science Practice. This practice has developed a strong professional and significant footprint in South Africa and Globally. Fierce Pro Recovery has been confirmed as a leader in gender empowerment for Standard Bank Top Leaders Awards in 2020, 2021 and 2025.

Tumi Masekela is a former professional cricketer and high-performance strength and conditioning specialist with experience across South African domestic, franchise and national-team cricket. After a decade-long career playing with teams including Limpopo, Northerns, Free State, Titans and Knights, he transitioned into sport science and athlete preparation. A University of Pretoria Sport Science graduate with honours in Human Movement Science from the University of the Free State, Tumi has supported elite environments including the SA Under-19 programme, National Academy, South Africa “A”, Proteas Men and Proteas Women. He brings a practical, athlete-centred perspective to readiness, resilience and sustained performance.

Simon Whitehead has spent more than a decade working at the point where football performance meets technology. Before joining STATSports, he worked inside professional clubs across the Premier League and English Football League, using player monitoring to support performance, rehabilitation and return to play.

Now a Senior Sports Science Consultant, Simon works with clubs and organisations to make GPS data useful beyond the post-session report. He brings the perspective of someone who has collected the data, sat in the staff meetings and helped turn the findings into decisions on the pitch.

Associate Professor Georgia Torres is a Clinical Exercise Physiologist and completed a Masters degree in Exercise Physiology and a PhD in the field of Metabolic Syndrome and Exercise Programming at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). Georgia holds a Conditioning and Strength Specialist (CSCS) and a Health Coaching qualification (ACE). She is currently Head of the Department of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine at Wits and is an NRF C-rated researcher. Georgia has implemented exercise-based interventions for chronic disease management, using technology to assign, track, and coach exercise prescriptions for chronic disease rehabilitation, and has also been the Strength and Conditioning Specialist for national and provincial field hockey teams.

Dr Connor Mercer is a young sports doctor completing an MSc in Sports and Exercise Medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand and a postgraduate fellowship in SEM under Professor Jon Patricios at Waterfall Sports and Orthopaedic Surgery. He serves as Medical Officer to Wits Sport and as an Advanced Concussion Care Doctor with Sports Concussion South Africa, managing sports injuries, athlete health, concussion and return-to-sport decisions. His event-medicine roles have included serving as tournament doctor for Varsity Cup Football, Rugby and Netball, as well as running a weekly clinic for Wits high-performance athletes. Beyond clinical practice, Connor competes at an elite level in long-course triathlon and other endurance sports and coaches endurance athletes. This dual perspective, as a doctor, athlete and coach, shapes his practical, evidence-informed approach to protecting athlete health while supporting performance, longevity and life beyond competitive sport.

Zeenat Simjee is a trailblazing performance and wellness dietitian dedicated to helping individuals unlock their full potential through purposeful nutrition, both on the sporting field and in the workplace. With more than a decade of experience and a career defined by global impact, she continues to break new ground across sport, health and corporate wellness. Her philosophy is simple but powerful: nutrition should not be a luxury reserved for the elite.