Award Winners pose for a photo after the Awards Ceremony
By Dickson Bandera
Fifteen medical practitioners were honoured Saturday night for their exceptional contribution to the Zimbabwe health sector at a colorful awards ceremony held at a local hotel in Harare.
The Awards recognized excellence in various categories namely teaching, research, clinical care, medical innovations, mentorship, health care business and welfare. A life time achievement award was also awarded.
According to the Zimbabwe Medical Association (ZiMA) President, Dr Kudzai Masinire, the awards motivate practitioners to improve work performance, promote excellence, boost morale within the profession and nurture a culture of professionalism where people outdo themselves knowing that hard work is recognized.
The medical practitioners have fought hard to provide quality medical services over the years even when the resources in the sector have dwindled due to the economic challenges bedeviling the country.
Below are the awards and the respective recipients.
Excellence in Teaching Award
Professor Kasum Jackson Nathoo, a medical teacher-par excellence who has trained thousands of practitioners since she started teaching at the University of Zimbabwe in 1978, was awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award. In addition to her teaching prowess, Professor Nathoo has also published over a hundred publications which have formed a body of knowledge in the medical field, hence Zimbabwe Medical Association saw it fit to recognize her impactful teaching career.
Prof Herbert Mapfumo Chinyanga was also awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award for his outstanding teaching and mentoring history spanning over three decades. A medical doctor, scientist, and specialist in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Professor Chinyanga has mentored many junior and senior students in Biomedical Sciences in various universities including University of Ghana, University of Toronto and University of Zimbabwe. He has been at the University of Zimbabwe from 1985 to date.
Excellence for Research Award
The Excellence for Research Award went to Professor M.Z Chirenje, a Gynecological Oncologist of note. Prof Chirenje’s researches have focused on evaluating the optimal performance of cervical cancer screening tests in low resource settings, cervical cancer screening and impact of HIV on HPV infections among women, finding safe and effective biomedical HIV prevention strategies for women, STI testing and treatment, among other areas.
A Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of California San Francisco, USA and the University of Zimbabwe (UZ), Prof Chirenje is the Principal Investigator of the University of Zimbabwe-Clinical Trials Research Centre (UZ-CTRC).
The center conducts high impact research addressing HIV prevention and treatment, TB, and other public health threats and assisting in policy implementation for Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health.
Excellence in Clinical Care Award
Five practitioners walked away with the Excellence in Clinical Care Award. These were Dr T Gunguwo, Professor Hilda Ageline Majuru, Mr S. Saburi, Dr G Powell and Dr D. Chimuka.
Dr T Gunguwo was rewarded for his outstanding clinical work which has seen him service different hospitals across the country since his graduation with a MBchB Honours from the University of Zimbabwe in 1994.
He is currently the head of the Gynaecology Oncology unit at the United Bulawayo Hospital. A Fellow of the College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of South Africa (FCOG SA), Dr Gunguwo has been at United Bulawayo Hospital (UBH) since 2007. He is also a lecturer at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) Medical School.
Prof Hilda Angela Mujuru, a Paediatrician; Consultant and lecturer in Paediatrics at University of Zimbabwe qualified as a doctor in 1986. She worked as GMO at Bindura Provincial Hospital then as a Casualty officer at the then Harare Central Hospital (now Sally Mugabe Hospital). She qualified as a Paediatrician in 1994 then joined the University of Zimbabwe as a lecturer in 1996.
She has done her clinical work at Parirenyatwa and Sally Mugabe Hospital, and has been consultant in the famous ward B2 for years and consultant for the HIV clinic at SMH.
With 100 publications to her name, she has been conducting research including clinical trials that have guided policy and recommendations for clinical care, particularly in HIV in children. She has worked as a consultant for the World Health organization and participated in training in Zimbabwe and the region particularly on IMNCI and Malaria.
She is a member of the WHO Guideline Development Group and has been appointed to various technical working groups in MOHCC over the years including Malaria TWG, Child Survival, IMNCI, TB and HIV, ZimNITAG, among others. She has contributed to guideline formulation and drafting of training materials in these TWG thereby contributing to policies on prevention and management of childhood illnesses.
Mr S Saburi
Mr Saburi did his MbChB Birmingham with Honors in Surgery at the University College of Rhodesia in 1973. He was one of the doctors who formed the Zimbabwe Medical Association in 1975. He did the residence programs at Harare Central Hospital, taking up a GMO post in 1978 before leaving for Scotland where he obtained a Fellowship in Surgery in Glasgow in February 1979.
He was appointed Consultant Surgeon at Mpilo in April 1979 and served in government from 1981 to 1991, after which he went into private practice.
Dr Gregory Powell was born and educated in Queensland, Australia and graduated in 1970 from the University of Queensland Medical School. He did his initial paediatric training at St. Marys Hospital, London and qualified with MRCP and DCH. He then returned to Australia to complete registration requirements and qualified MRACP.
He was appointed a lecturer in the Department of Paediatrics at the end of 1977 and resigned from the full time staff in 2001. However, he continued teaching as an Honorary Lecturer until 2019. During his time at the University, Dr Powell developed a special interest in Orphans and Vulnerable Children and Childhood Disability.
From 2001 until 2014, he was the Country Director of the JF Kapnek Trust, an American-based NGO which implemented programming for PMTCT and OVC. Dr. Powell is now in part-time private practice and is the current Chairman of the Harare Children’s Hospital Trust.
Excellence in Medical Innovation.
ZIMA recognized Professor Dixon Chibanda for Excellence in Medical Innovation, taking note of his outstanding work in training grandmothers as healthcare givers in their communities.
Prof Chibanda’s organisation, Friendship Bench Project has trained over 2000 community grandmothers to deliver basic cognitive behaviour therapy from wooden park benches across the country to address the care gap for depression and anxiety disorders.
In 2023 alone, over 200 000 clients received therapy. Over the last 10 years he has raised over 20 million US dollars for research and capacity building for Zimbabwe.
Prof Chibanda is a medical doctor and Professor of Psychiatry and Global Mental Health. He is the director of the African Mental Health Research Initiative (AMARI) which has a presence in West, East, and Southern Africa and has a mandate to build excellence in leadership, training and science in the area of mental neurological and substance use disorders.
An authority of note, Prof Chibanda has over 100 peer reviewed scientific publications. His TED talk entitled “Why I Train Grandmothers To Treat Depression” has over 3 million views.
Excellence In Mentorship
Mr Danso, Ghananian national who has settled in Zimbabwe since the early 80s, is a versatile accomplished urological educationist and consultant with immense motivational and teaching skills. He has been an External Examiner in Urology Surgery for multiple times at the University of Zambia, National University of Science and Technology in Zimbabwe (NUST).
A well acclaimed presenter at international conferences, Mr Danso travels on many urological outreach programmes to teach and operate (Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Kenya, Ghana and Malawi). He has founded the Pan African Urological Surgeons Association, Friends of Zimbabwe Hospital and many other associations.
Excellence In Health Care Business
Dr. Enock Tatira was born in November 1969. After qualifying with a Medicine and Surgery degree at University of Zimbabwe, he joined the ZNA medical corps after medical school. He left the army in 2001 and joined the private sector as a GP in Mutare. He started a surgery that quickly grew into a small private hospital. He also joined CPCPZ and ZiMA where he got involved in medical politics, rising from Manicaland Branch president through to national vice president and finally president.
In 2012, he founded Access Health Medical Fund. The Fund Fund’s aim is to empower the patient who pays the money and the service provider whose duty is to treat the patient to the best of his capability.
Excellence in Leadership Award.
Public Health Advisor to the President and Cabinet, Dr Agnes Mahomva was honoured for her astute leadership which has seen her providing remarkable leadership in different capacities locally, regionally and globally. A seasoned medical practitioners of more than 30 years, Dr Mahomva received the Excellence in Leadership Award.
Excellence in Welfare Award
Zima also recognized the efforts that are directed towards the doctors welfare especially the mental health of the doctors themselves. Dr Walter Mangezi was awarded the Excellence in Welfare Award.
Dr Mangezi is a psychiatrist, administrator and an educator for both undergraduate and postgraduate health profession students at 2 local Universities. He also has a passion for research, mentorship, supporting colleagues and advocacy for mental health.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Two exceptional practitioners, Phineas Svondo Makurira and Prof Godfrey Ignatius Muguti received the Lifetime Achievement Awards.
Dr Phineas Svondo Makurira started his Public service medicine practice in 1979 starting with Mpilo then Masvingo Provincial Hospital where he was appointed Medical Superintendent 1980-1984. He formed his own private practice in 1984 which has grown in terms of the units ranging from outpatients, theatre, maternity, inpatients and x-ray.
Dr Makurira served as Member of the Health Service Board for 2010-2014, and Sessional Doctor at Great Zimbabwe University up to 2023. He has received awards that include the Rural Businessman of the Year Award Midlands Province in 1991, the Makurira Memorial Clinic awarded the first National Prize on Quality Care to the Community for medium businesses in Zimbabwe in Nov 2000, the Civic Honour Award in 2020 from Masvingo City.
Prof Godfrey Ignatious Muguti is a Clinical Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine, USA and Medical Director of the Avenues Clinic in Harare. He trained in Zimbabwe, Edinburgh, UK. and Sydney, Australia. He did a Fellowship in Hepatobiliary Surgery at Westmead Hospital, University of Sydney.
Before joining the Department of Surgical Sciences at the University of Zimbabwe as an Associate Professor he had worked for 10 years as Head of Department of Surgery and Consultant Surgeon at Mpilo and the UBH.
He has worked as a Consultant Surgeon in Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom. He has been invited to deliver presentations at prestigious world conferences were he has been honoured. Prof Muguti was instrumental in the establishment of the University of Zimbabwe International Centre for Surgical Simulation.
He established the Plastic Surgery training programme in Zimbabwe and has been key in the development of plastic and reconstructive surgery in the COSECSA region over the last 10 years in his role as Programme Director in the College.
