Vanessa Steenkamp

Professor Vanessa Steenkamp obtained her PhD in Clinical Chemistry (Toxicology of traditional herbal remedies). Presently she heads the Phytomedicine Unit, Department of Pharmacology, University of Pretoria, South Africa. She is Past-President of the South African Association of Clinical Biochemistry, Vice-President of the Toxicology Society of South Africa and Secretary-General of the South African Association of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology. Internationally she serves as vice-chair of the IATDMCT Clinical Toxicology committee and participates in the Standards of Laboratory Practice committee. She is a member of the nominating committee of the International Union of Toxicology and serves on the Executive Committee of the IFCC. She strives to better health care provision and with her dedication to the African Federation of Clinical Chemistry, regional federation of the IFCC, of which she is currently President, was inaugurated in 2009.

Vanessa is author/co-author of >70 scientific papers and 3 book chapters. Awards for her research both nationally & internationally, amongst others, include: the prestigious Friedel Sellschop award and Exceptional Young Researcher of the University of Pretoria, the Young Scientist Award from the IATDMCT and AACC. Reviewer for 18 international peer-reviewed journals and on the editorial board of 4 journals. She has lectured worldwide and in 2010 was awarded the IATDMCT travelling lectureship where she presented toxicology lectures in Chile. Vanessa is registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa as a medical scientist, the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNSP) as a Professional Natural Scientist and is a rated scientist with the National Research Foundation. She serves on the Professional Advisory Committee of SACNSP. At the University she serves on various academic and research committees. She has supervised 28 post graduate students to graduation and 10 currently under her supervision.