Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death throughout the world, and Dr Ntobeko Ntusi has broadened the understanding of the epidemiology, biological mechanisms and clinical outcomes in cardiomyopathies and infective and autoimmune forms of inflammatory heart disease, particularly in Africans.
He obtained his BSc honours degree in cellular and molecular biology from Haverford College in the US, and an MBChB degree in medicine and surgery from the University of Cape Town (UCT), before completing a four-year Fellowship of the College of Physicians through the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa. He obtained a DPhil in cardiovascular medicine at the University of Oxford, and completed his MD in cardiology at UCT. Ntusi served his internship and later worked as a community service medical officer and senior house officer at Frere Hospital in East London, and has also worked at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford as an honorary cardiology specialist registrar. He is now a cardiology specialist registrar at Groote Schuur Hospital.
Ntusi’s research applies non-invasive cardiovascular imaging techniques such as cardiovascular magnetic resonance, cardiovascular computed tomography and echocardiography to stratify phenotypes, study disease mechanisms, predict and study outcomes in cardiomyopathies and inflammatory heart disease, with a view to achieving a better understanding of pathophysiology and treatment of heart disease common in Africans. He is currently supervising six master’s and two doctoral students.
Over the last six years Ntusi has published more than 35 peer-reviewed articles (out of a total of 46) in international journals such as Circulation, The Lancet, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology Cardiovascular Imaging, Circulation Cardiovascular Imaging, Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, the Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, and the International Journal of Cardiology. He has over 50 published conference proceedings and has written four book chapters. He provides regular peer review for over 30 international scientific journals and serves on the editorial board of the African Journal of Microbiology Research. He is also the section reviewer for uptodate.com, an evidence-based, online clinical-decision support resource used by millions of clinicians, patients and caregivers worldwide. He is a member of the International Advisory Board for Kumar and Clark’s Clinical Medicine, one of the most popular medical textbooks worldwide. In addition, he is frequently invited as a speaker and expert moderator to international conferences and meetings.
Ntusi has garnered considerable recognition both as a student and as a researcher. As an undergraduate student, he won the WW Smith Prize and the Howard Hughes Fellowships, both for academic distinction. While at medical school, he was awarded UCT’s Frank Forman Prize as well as the Bernard Pimstone Award (for the best research presentation by a medical student). As a registrar, he later received UCT’s Oates Award and the Medical Research Council of South Africa’s Specialist Award. In addition, he was named one of the 200 Young South Africans by the Mail & Guardian in 2011 and has received numerous fellowships.