Dr Christina Johanna Grobler appointed as a member of the Professional Board for Medical Technology of the HPCSA

Dr Christina Johanna Grobler

Dr Groblerʼs appointment follows nominations by colleagues from industry and universities based on her 30 years of experience as a registered professional with the Health Professional Council of South Africa (HPCSA) involved in numerous policy and re-curriculation processes. Her responsibility as the Biomedical Technology coordinator and Acting Head of the Health Science Department at VUT, was to ensure that the programmes offered adhered to the HPCSA and South African Nursing Council (SANC) policies and requirements.

Dr Grobler has been an employee of VUT since 1997 to date. She is currently a Senior Lecturer and the Chair of the Faculty of Applied and Computer Science Research Ethics Committee, as well as a Chair of the Facultyʼs Strategic Committee on community engagement and financial sustainability. Her passion as an educationalist and registered Biomedical Technologist is capacity building and knowledge transfer.

She is well experienced in both the fields of Higher Education of South Africa and Biomedical Technology (Medical Laboratory Sciences). She has been involved in Medical Laboratory Science since 1989 and occupied positions on all levels (both in the laboratory and at the university), which contributed to a vast variety of experiences. Her passion as an educator in the field of Biomedical Technology enables her to consider inter- trans- and multidisciplinary research collaboration as a high priority. She has successfully supervised eight M Tech students and is currently supervising one PhD and three M Tech students.

As an academic she has represented the Vaal University of Technology (VUT) on numerous national committees of external stakeholders in the Health Sector (e.g. National Working Group and National Academic Pathology Committee).

Dr Grobler has served her profession in various committees and structures, namely:

• Five years on the National Academic and Pathology Committee (NAPC) a sub-committee of the board of National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS).
• She is a member of the Research Ethics Committee Association of Southern Africa (REASA) and is also trained as an ethics evaluator.
• She has acted as examination coordinator for Medical Laboratory Technologist of South Africa (SMLTSA) during the Biomedical Technologist and Technician examinations, overseeing that the protocol and procedures are followed.
• She is also a member of the Laboratory Medicine Group (LMG). Additionally, a trained evaluator for HPCSA and was part of four evaluation teams thus far.

“It is a great privilege and honor to be chosen to serve my profession and my country on this forum and to wave the VUT flag high” she concluded.