Chief Executive Officer
Prof. Vinodh Edward
DTech, MTech, BTech, BSc
Prof. Edward has been a basic sciences researcher since 2000. He has been involved in clinical research management since 2005. Prof Edward is registered as a professional natural scientist, which allows him to have a broad focus in the biological sciences. He has a good understanding of working with various donors and delivering various projects simultaneously. Prof. Edward is passionate about building clinical research capacity in South Africa and strives to achieve efficiencies in all facets of research.
He conceptualised and founded Global Health Innovations, a subsidiary of Aurum, in 2018. GHI provides end to end solutions in the public health and research space. GHI has been instrumental in providing Covid-19 testing and laboratory support since early in 2020. He currently serves as GHI’s Chief Executive Officer and is responsible for its strategic direction and business development initiatives.
Prof. Edward is also responsible for the Clinical Research Division and Implementation Research Division at Aurum in his capacity as Regional Chief Operating Officer: Research. These two divisions have more than 300 permanent staff and more than 60 active research grants. He is currently the Aurum Principal Investigator for the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) grant and the Sub-Saharan African Network for TB/HIV Research Excellence (SANTHE) grant. Prof Edward is also a co-investigator on several clinical trials at Aurum.
He is also the Chief Operating Officer for Aurum’s recently awarded DAIDS Clinical Trials Unit. The overall aim of the CTU is to utilize its collective infrastructure, experience, and scientific understanding of biological, behavioural, and structural risks to advance new and proven HIV and TB prevention and treatment options as part of a comprehensive epidemic response. The CTU is also conducting extensive Covid-19 clinical research.
Prof. Edward holds a Bachelor of Science degree with majors in Microbiology and Physiology as well as a Doctor of Technology Degree in Biotechnology. He has joint appointments at the University of the Witwatersrand and the Yale School of Public Health and has published in the areas of basic sciences and clinical research.
Chief Operating Officer
Mr Sharfuddin Sayed
MBA, MSc, BSc Hons, BSc
Mr Sharfuddin Sayed is the Chief Operating Officer for GHI and the Operations Director for the Clinical Research Division at The Aurum Institute. He oversees one of the largest and most diverse teams in South Africa, which focuses on TB, HIV and Covid-19 research, with sites situated in Klerksdorp, Tembisa, Rustenburg and Pretoria.
Mr Sayed’s mission is to optimize The Aurum Institute’s clinical research trial sites in South Africa by streamlining all operational areas of the clinical trial sites.
He holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA), Master’s degree of Science (MSc) in Pharmacology, Bachelor of Science degree with Honours (BSc Hons) in Pharmacology as well as a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree majoring in Physiology.
Mr Sayed has been involved in clinical trials for more than six years and is involved in all facets of clinical research. His role includes oversight of Pharmacy, Data Management, Quality Assurance, Community Engagement, Projects, Grants and Laboratory. His strengths include an analytical mind with emphasis on lateral thinking as well as an ability to draw operational teams together and motivate them to implement projects that deliver results on time and in budget.
Human Resources Director
Mr Michael McMillan
MBA
Mr Michael McMillan boasts over 32 years of work experience, with the majority of those years spent in senior human resource strategic management. He has worked in large complex organisations, covering a full spectrum of HR related functions. Michael holds a Master of Business Administration degree and several other Human Resources, Strategy, Business and Employment Relations qualifications.
In his current position, Mr McMillan oversees and is responsible for all the people functions and provides the direction and design necessary to align them with the business needs, organisational philosophy, policies and practices. He is responsible for ensuring the delivery of the organisation’s HR strategy and ensuring the support of business strategy in the successful implementation of culture change initiatives while embracing the organization’s business and financial objectives.
Alongside this, Mr McMillan leads a team responsible for the delivery of a full range of Human Resource functions, including employee on boarding; employee value chain; employee engagement; talent management; remuneration-and-benefits; employee development; organisation design; change management; mergers and acquisitions; management of diversity; HR administration and policy, governance; and compliance with relevant and applicable legislation.
He has previously worked in both the mining, FMCG, consulting and construction sector.
Scientist
Dr Mandla Mlotshwa
PhD, MPH, MTech, BTech
Dr Mandla Mlotshwa has 15 years of work experience as a research scientist. He has worked on trials and studies including HIV vaccine trial network studies, microbicide trial network studies, microbicide safety biomarker studies and successfully completed a research project in Africa for Human papillomavirus (HPV).
Dr Mlotshwa is scientist and Head of the Biomedical Research Laboratory based in Tembisa. He is registered with HPCSA as a Scientist and is a member of the Biobanks Ethics Committee at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Previously, Dr Mlotshwa worked at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), where he completed his PhD in immunology, looking at the correlation of immune protection in individuals recently infected with HIV. He has worked extensively on various projects including HIV Vaccine Trial Network (HVTN) studies, Microbicide Trial Network (MTN) studies, Microbicide Safety biomarker studies and HPV in Africa Research Partnership (HARP) studies.
Before joining The Aurum Institute in 2016, Mandla was a resident field epidemiologist seconded by the Foundation for Professional Development (FPD), where he gained extensive experience on epidemiological methods to conduct outbreak investigations, evaluate surveillance systems and statistical tools that are used to analyse big data sets.
He has over 15 years of experience, working as research scientist, and has set up various laboratory facilities to comply with good clinical laboratory practices as well as other South African regulations.
Finance
Ms Tersia Swanepoel
B.Acc
Ms Swanepoel obtained her B. Acc degree at the University of the Free State and has over 12 years of experience in auditing and financial management, primarily in the pharmaceutical and clinical trial field.
After completing her articles, Ms Swanepoel started working in the pharmaceutical industry and moved into clinical research organisations thereafter. She joined Aurum in 2020 and is currently the management accountant for The Aurum Institute, and works at the Pretoria site where multiple clinical trials are currently being conducted.