Professor Mergan Naidoo.
Image: Supplied
RENOWNED clinician, teacher, and researcher Professor Mergan Naidoo has begun a new chapter in his career with his appointment to the Medical Education, Training and Registration Committee of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).
Naidoo, a Full Professor of Family Medicine at UKZN and Head of the Clinical Unit at Wentworth Hospital, assumed his appointment earlier this month.
In his new role, he will contribute to ensuring the quality, safety, and legality of healthcare practice in South Africa by strengthening the link between education, training, and professional registration.
Naidoo holds several senior leadership positions within the profession. He currently serves as Vice President of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa (2025–2028), President of the College of Family Physicians (2023–2026), and President of the South African Medical Association (2025–2026).
He also serves as treasurer and an exco member of the South African Academy of Family Physicians.
In addition, Naidoo is a faculty member of the International and East African FAIMER Institutes and serves as an Academic Editor for PLOS One. These organisations help build capacity in academics from the global community in Health Professions Education through their Fellowship programmes.
His academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB), a Master’s degree in Family Medicine, a Master’s of Science in Sports Medicine, a Fellowship in the College of Family Physicians (FCFP), multiple clinical diplomas, a PhD in Maternal Health, a FAIMER Fellowship, and a Master’s degree in Health Professions Education (Accreditation and Assessment) from Keele University.
Central to Naidoo’s current research portfolio is a national project titled “Evaluation of Family Medicine Entrustable Professional Activities in Postgraduate Training Programmes in South Africa”.
The initiative aims to promote transformation, standardisation, and quality assurance in family medicine training nationwide.
Jointly funded through the University Capacity Development Programme Collaborative Projects Grant (2024–2025) and the Discovery Foundation, the study is being conducted across nine institutions offering postgraduate family medicine training in South Africa, namely Walter Sisulu University, the University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch University, University of the Free State, University of the Witwatersrand, University of Pretoria, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, and the University of Limpopo.
A National Research Foundation C2-rated researcher, Naidoo has supervised numerous Master’s and PhD candidates and authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications spanning maternal health, infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, emergency care, health systems strengthening, and health professions education.