/ 11 June 2011

SA doctor internationally recognised for burns research

A South African doctor from the Tygerberg Hospital Burns Unit in Cape Town will in September receive international recognition for her contribution to burns research.

Dr Elbie van der Merwe was announced as the winner of the biannual G Whitaker International Burns Prize competition in April.

She would receive the €20 000 prize on September 23 at the G Whitaker Foundation’s headquarters in Palermo, Italy.

“This is a wonderful thing, and I hope that it makes South Africans see that while we have some of the worst burn cases in the world, there is a lot that this country can still do,” van der Merwe said.

“Everyone is asking me what I’m going to do with the money. I think it will be suited for an organisation that caters to burns either here in South Africa or somewhere else on the continent.”

The prize was awarded to Van der Merwe for her humanitarian approach to the prevention of burn victims.

Her research on burn risks in the poorer settlements and subsequent meetings with parliament and manufacturers made burn prevention obligatory by law.

In 1998 she was appointed African Representative at the International Society for Burn Injuries.

Van der Merwe’s revolutionary approach between accident surgery and burn therapy, and her pocket handbook on trauma were part of the medical curriculum in South Africa.

In May 2004 she co-founded the Pan African Burn Society and hosted the First Pan African Burn Society Conference in Cape Town.

“Helping burn victims is not just a routine job. The trauma is always devastating, but I try to make everyone look past the burns the see the potential that all victims have.”

The Giuseppe Whitaker Foundation, is a non profit-making organisation that aims at recognising the activity of the most qualified experts from all countries in the field of burns pathology and treatment. — Sapa