Start main page content
Prof Jon Patricios WiSH Director

Prof Patricios (MBBCh MMedSci FACSM FFSEM (UK) FFIMS) has been in sports medicine practice for over 22 years. He is currently Director of Waterfall Sports Orthopaedic Surgery in Johannesburg and an Associate Professor in the Wits Faculty of Health Sciences. Jon is founder and Director of Sports Concussion South Africa, sports concussion consultant to World Rugby, a board member of the international Concussion in Sports Group and on the scientific committee for the International Consensus Conference on Concussion in Sport. He is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, the Faculty of Sports & Exercise Medicine (UK) and the International Sports Medicine Federation. Jon serves on the Advisory Board of the University of Washington, Seattle Sports Health and Safety Institute.  He is a senior associate editor of the British Journal of Sports Medicine and Current Sports Medicine Reports (USA) and served 2 terms as President of the South African Sports Medicine Association. Jon has been team physician to school, club, provincial and international sports teams in rugby, cricket, soccer, athletics and basketball, has been member of the Cricket South Africa and SA Rugby medical committees, the Discovery Rockies Comrades Marathon Panel of experts and has served on tribunals for the South African Institute for Drug Free Sport.

Prof Hellen Myezwa (WiSH MANCO Chair)

Professor Hellen Myezwa is the current acting Head of School for Therapeutic Sciences. She is a trained physiotherapist and is the current chair of the management committee

Mr Michael Dick (WiSH MANCO Member)

Michael Dick is the current Head of Sport at Wits University with more than 20 years’ experience in high performance sport management. He is a Varsity Cup Board member and 10 year veteran of the USSA Rugby Executive. He holds a MBA in Sport Management from the European University of Madrid in conjunction with the Real Madrid Foundation. Michael  also lectured at the University of Johannesburg in Sports Marketing as well as Human Resource Management in Sport on both Under and Post Graduate level.  

Dr Brad Gelbart (WiSH Clinical Services Director)

Dr Brad Gelbart is an Orthopaedic surgeon with an interest in Orthopaedic Sports medicine and ensuring sportsmen and women can enjoy the benefits of sport, whether competing professionally or socially.

Brad completed his undergraduate and post graduate specialization studies at the University of Witwatersrand Medical school, obtaining his FC Orth from the College of Medicine and Masters of Medicine Orthopaedic Surgery from the University of Witwatersrand.

He completed his fellowship in Knee surgery with Dr Ponky Firer and then joined Dr Firer in Practice at the Linksfield Orthopaedic Sports and Rehabilitation centre.  He continues to work as the consultant in the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital soft tissue knee and sports Orthopaedics unit.  He remains attached to the unit and remains as a lecturer in the Department of Orthopaedics at the University of Witwatersrand. He practices from the Linksfield Orthopaedic, Sports and Rehabilitation centre at the Netcare Linksfield Hospital and from the Centre for Sports Medicine and Orthopaedics in Rosebank.

Brad has presented talks at national and international congresses and publishes articles. He is a reviewer for local and international Orthopaedic journals and has served on the Executive of the South African Knee Society(SAKS) for 6 years and is a past President of SAKS and currently serves on the Executive of the South African Sports medicine Association (SASMA).

His interests include all knee surgery, arthroscopic shoulder surgery, muscle and tendon injuries and biological therapy for musculoskeletal injuries.

Brad has completed Comrades marathons, multiple cycle tours and half Iron Man races. While having competed in contact sports previously he now prefers to stick to golf.

Dr Robin Saggers (WiSH MANCO Member )

Robin Saggers is a paediatrician who completed his undergraduate and postgraduate training on the Wits circuit.  He is currently doing a Fellowship in Neonatology at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital.  His MMed was in neonatology, specifically: “An analysis of neonates with surgical diagnoses admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital.” 

Robin is an APLS instructor as well as a regular instructor on neonatal resuscitation courses.  His interests lie in ventilation and critical care, having completed various critical care courses: BASIC, Beyond BASIC: Mechanical Ventiliation and Beyond BASIC: Nephrology, as well as a Workshop on Neonatal Ventilation. 

He is involved with research within the neonatal unit at Charlotte Maxeke, as well as supervising students and registrars writing research reports.  In his spare time, he enjoys swimming, water polo and running.

Prof Daynia Ballot (WiSH Manco Member)

I am the Head of School of Clinical Medicine, in the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, having previously served as an Assistant head of School/ the Head of Cluster C for a year prior to this.  I am an Associate Professor and Head of the Neonatal Unit at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic hospital (CMJAH).  I am a paediatrician with a registered sub-speciality in neonatology. I am a neonatologist and work in the Neonatal/ Paediatric Intensive Care unit at CMJAH.  I enjoy clinical work, but also have a strong interest in research and training. I have a research program (Project to improve neonatal care – PRINCE) which is recognized at Faculty level. My current research interests focus on neonatology – particularly factors affecting survival and developmental outcome of high risk infants, as well as neonatal sepsis.  I previously worked in Prof Bothwell’s Iron and Red Cell Metabolic Unit, conducting research on iron nutrition and food iron forticfication.  I obtained my PhD in this field.  I have supervised 22 MMED students, 4 MSC and 1 PhD student to completion. Ai am currently supervising an additional 3 MSc, 19 MMED and one PhD student. I was previously the research coordinator for the Department of Paediatrics.  I am a National Research Foundation C2 rated researcher. I have published 81 papers with a further 7 under consideration for publication.  I have an H index of 18, with an RG score of 32.6.  I am an instructor for the Advanced Paediatric Life Support and do regular training on the APLS and neonatal resuscitation course.  I have served as an FCP 1 and Neonatology certificate examiner, convenor and moderator on a regular basis.  I served two terms as a councillor on the College of Paediatricians of SA. I am an examiner for both MMED and PhD degrees. I have performed 101 accredited peer reviews for both national and international journals. I have been invited to serve as a guest editor for PLOSONE.  I was instrumental in establishing the Wits Paediatric Fund and served as the chair from 2001 to 2018 and I have been awarded both the Wits Volunteer and Vice Chancellor’s Academic Citizenship awards in the past. I have received more than R 5.5 million in grants from the University, SAMRC and Carl and Emily Fuchs Foundation.  I trained at Wits and have spent my whole academic career at my alma mater.  We have four children and I have always tried to balance family life with an academic career.

Mr Siyabonga Kunene (WiSH Director of Research)

Siyabonga Kunene is a lecturer and an emerging researcher in the field of musculoskeletal physiotherapy (sports) in the Physiotherapy department at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. He has completed his Masters degree in sports physiotherapy in 2014 and currently doing his PhD. His area of interest and expertise is in sports physiotherapy. He is currently serving as WiSH Director of Research

Share