Elmi Muller is a South African

medical specialist A medical specialty is a branch of medical practice that is focused on a defined group of patients, diseases, skills, or philosophy. Examples include those branches of medicine that deal exclusively with children (paediatrics), cancer (oncology), ...

who specialised in General Surgery and Transplantation. She currently performs kidney as well as liver transplants in both adults and children. She is the past President of th
Southern African Transplantation Society
who pioneered an organ transplant programme at

Groote Schuur Hospital Groote Schuur Hospital is a large, government-funded, teaching hospital situated on the slopes of Devil's Peak in the city of Cape Town, South Africa. It was founded in 1938 and is famous for being the institution where the first human-to-huma ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

for

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

positive patients using HIV positive donors. She also serves on the Executive committee o
The Transplantation Society
of which she currently is the vice-president. Elmi was the Chair/Head of the Division of General Surgery a
Groote Schuur HospitalUniversity of Cape Town
She currently serves as Dean: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University.

Biography

Elmi Muller has been a full-time medical specialist at Groote Schuur Hospital an
UCT Private Academic Hospital
since 2007. Since 2007 she has been involved in many organ transplant-related outreach and education programmes for the public and the medical profession in South Africa. She is also an active participant in the

International Society of Nephrology The International Society of Nephrology (ISN) is an organization concerned with kidney health. Introduction The ISN has over 9,000 professional members from more than 156 countries. In addition, the ISN closely collaborates with over 100 nation ...

's Educational Ambassador program and has provided training and teaching in the field of Transplantation and Surgery in several African countries. Elmi has been co-chairing the Declaration of Istanbul Custodian Group between 2014 and 2018. Muller co-chaired th
2018 edition of the Declaration
She pioneered an HIV positive-to-positive organ transplantation at

in Cape Town. This was the first program in the world to use HIV positive donors for HIV positive recipients. The outcomes of these transplants had been published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Her work had been featured in many journals The Lancet also published a profile on her in 2012 called Elmi Muller: bending rules, changing guidelines, making history. Known as the pioneering clinician who performed the first HIV-positive-to-positive kidney transplants in the world, Prof Elmi Muller, has recently been appointed as the new Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University (SU). Muller, was Head of both the Division of General Surgery and the Transplant Unit in the Groote Schuur Hospital at the University of Cape Town (UCT), and succeeded Prof Jimmy Volmink whose second term has come to an end on January 1, 2022. Muller is the first woman to be appointed as Dean of the Faculty.

Education

After graduating with a M.B. Ch.B. from the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria ( af, Universiteit van Pretoria, nso, Yunibesithi ya Pretoria) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa. The university was ...

in 1995, Muller was awarded a M.Med. (Surgery) in 2007, as well as PhD (Surgery) degree in 2018 from the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

(UCT).

Professional memberships

A member of the UK's

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations a ...

and a Fellow of the College of Surgeons in South Africa, Muller was awarded Fellowship of the

American College of Surgeons The American College of Surgeons is an educational association of surgeons created in 1913.American College of Surgeons Online "What is the American College of Surgeons?"/ref> See also *American College of Physicians The American College o ...

in 2013.

Awards and accolades

Muller received the Transplantation Society's Women in Transplant Hero Award in 2016 and became an honorary member of the European Surgical Association in the same year. In 2014 she was the recipient of ''CEO Magazine’s'' Most Influential Woman in Business and Government: Africa award, and was the winner of the health care category of the Most Influential Women in Africa in 2013. She and was the winner of the Checkers Shoprite Woman of the Year award in the health care section for 2011.

Other Projects

Muller is involved in creating equitable organ allocation systems in South Africa, setting up guidelines and processes for kidney and liver allocation in the Western Cape and the rest of the country.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Elmi University of Pretoria alumni Academic staff of the University of Cape Town South African surgeons People from Cape Town University of Cape Town alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people