PULMONOLOGY
Keertan Dheda MBBCh (Wits), FCP(SA), FCCP, FRCP (Lond), PhD (Lond), is Professor of Respiratory Medicine, Director of the Centre for Lung Infection and Immunity (CLII), Head of the Division of Pulmonology in the Department of Medicine at the University of Cape Town (UCT) with a joint appointment at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) as a Professor of Mycobacteriology and Global Health. He is also part of the critical care team at UCT. He has been the recipient of several prestigious awards, the most recent being the EU Horizon 20/20 EDCTP Scientific Leadership award and the 2019 South African MRC Scientific Achievement Award (Platinum Medal). He serves on several national and international academic and advisory bodies, and several prestigious journal editorial boards including the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Medicine, and Lancet Respiratory Diseases, amongst others (these are ranked 1st and 2nd in fields of TB and respiratory medicine). He is an inventor or co-inventor on 6 patents related to new TB control technologies. He has founded one spin-off company and is the founder and director of a charity called Free of TB, which seeks to promote the well-being of patients with TB.
Cape Pulmonology is embedded within the Netcare-managed UCT Academic Hospital, a 124-bed facility in Upper Observatory in Cape Town and adjoining the Groote Schuur Hospital and the University of Cape Town Medical School campus. The hospital is staffed and run by academics from Groote Schuur Hospital and the University of Cape Town who are leading national or international experts in their respective fields of practice. Surgery, in-patient, rehabilitation and ICU facilities are also available.
The Centre for Chest Diseases and Lung Health (directed by Prof Dheda) focuses on problems related to:
- Respiratory infections, including those related to HIV and multi drug-resistant (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB)
- Airway diseases such as difficult to treat asthma and COPD (emphysema)
- Inflammatory diseases of the lung, including sarcoidosis and other interstitial lung diseases
- Allergies, including asthma, allergic rhinitis and sinusitis, and occupational asthma
- Pulmonary vascular disease including pulmonary embolism (clots to the lung)
- Chest wall and pleural diseases (disorders involving the lung lining)
- Sleep disorders including evaluation of daytime sleepiness and obstructive sleep apnoea
- Evaluation of shortness of breath, persistent cough and other respiratory disorders
- Interventional bronchoscopy and including EBUS and bronchial thermoplasty
- Fitness to fly and dive testing
We also screen for and treat problems of a general medical nature, including diabetes, hypertension, ischemic heart disease and other disorders that may impact on lung health.
Professor K. Dheda co-consults with a multi-disciplinary team that includes:
- Jacques Erasmus – Physiotherapist
- Dr Tim Pennel and Professor Tony Linegar – Cardiothoracic surgeons
- ENT surgeons, cardiologists, audiologists, pathologists, microbiologists and a critical care team