Prof Vernon Louw is Chair and Head of the Division of Clinical Haematology in the Department of Medicine at the University of Cape Town since April 2018. He held previous roles as Professor and Head of the Department of Internal Medicine at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein since 2013 and Head of Division of Clinical Haematology from 2004 to 2013. After completing his MBChB and MMed in Internal Medicine at the University of Stellenbosch (both summa cum laude), he spent three years at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven training in Clinical Haematology. In 2011, he obtained his PhD in Health Professions Education at the University of the Free State, on the development of a postgraduate training programme in transfusion medicine. In 2015 he received the National South African Registrar Association Award for Excellence in Teaching and Research Supervision.
His research focuses on iron-related disorders (both iron deficiency and transfusional iron overload), patient blood management, transfusion medicine education, haematological malignancies and HIV-related haematological disease. Professor Louw has authored or co-authored more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed medical journals, with more than 300 poster and oral presentations at local, national and international meetings. Professor Louw is a member of several professional societies, including the American Society of Hematology, the Hematology Association, American Association for Blood Banking and the International Society for Blood Transfusion, and is a founding member of the South African Clinical Haematology Society. He also serves on the World Health Organisation Strategic Committee for Patient Blood Management, the Global Transfusion Forum Steering Committee and Education Subcommittee, the Global Standards Committee for Transfusion Medicine and the International Collaborative for Transfusion Medicine Guidelines Committee.
