Hamilton Naki scholar joins UKZN

PROFESSOR Bonga Chiliza, a former recipient of the prestigious Hamilton Naki Research Fellowship and the CINP Rafaelsen Young Investigators award, has been appointed Head of UKZN’s Department of Psychiatry.

Chiliza returned to his alma mater to take office at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine campus last month.

RELATED: Former UKZN security guard graduates

He served as an Associate Professor and Senior Specialist Psychiatrist in the Department of Psychiatry, Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital. He is passionate about improving mental health and was inspired as a young fourth year UKZN medical student serving in local hospitals.

“I thought it would be rewarding to work with people with serious mental illnesses and hoped that by helping them I would get great job satisfaction. As I got to know more about psychiatry, I realised that the brain is really the final frontier in medical discovery. We are yet to discover so many things about how the brain works and becomes ill. The study of neurosciences is definitely where all the exciting discoveries are at the moment,” he said.

Old boy of Pietermaritzburg’s Hilton College and growing up in Durban’s Township of Umlazi, Chiliza was inspired during his years as a student at UKZN by renowned Colorectal Cancer Surgeon and eThekwini’s Living Legend, UKZN’s Emeritus Professor Thandinkosi Madiba. “He is the ultimate clinician researcher of our time,” said Chiliza.

RELATED: Youngest doctor graduates at UKZN 

His research interests include schizophrenia, consultation-liaison psychiatry, health services and medical education. He has authored over 50 peer reviewed articles and book chapters and also served on a number of NGO Boards, including the SA YMCA, Life Choices and Harambee.

Chiliza said he was happy to be at UKZN and has a vision to ensure the provision of responsive, accountable psychiatry to the people of KwaZulu-Natal.