Professor Ncoza Dlova.New HoD at Dermatology Department
UKZN’s College of Health Sciences welcomed Professor Ncoza Dlova as the new HoD for the Department of Dermatology.
Dlova says she is excited about her promotion and together with the team has great plans for the department, ‘We want to continue nurturing and producing more PhD graduates. We will also establish community dermatology and take dermatology to the rural outskirts through teledermatology and outreach teaching programmes.’
With 14 years of experience in dermatology teaching, she has taught many Medical students and trained more than 20 dermatologists. Her enthusiasm and personality helps her to quickly connect with people and make an impact on them to take action.
‘I would like to increase my Department’s publication output of relevant research and establish more subspecialties in dermatology by encouraging consultants to identify their areas of interest and assist them to develop further,’ she said.
Other plans for her Department include strengthening their international collaboration and exchange programmes, raising funds to enable staff and registrars to spend short stints abroad to learn the latest techniques, and to introduce a dermatology diploma for both nurses and medical doctors to improve primary health care level management of skin conditions.
Dlova enjoys helping people and her research interests are ethnic skin and hair, pigmentation disorders, atopic eczema and cosmetic dermatology.
She is passionate about these research areas because they have been neglected for a long time and thus remain a cause of major morbidity in dermatology, ‘We have since contributed new knowledge through research we have published.’
Dlova wants to train graduate and postgraduate students who have an excellent work ethic, are dedicated, compassionate and have a sense of giving back to the community and are willing to treat patients with dignity and respect irrespective of gender or ethnic group.
She has established a dermatological surgery training programme in collaboration with Harvard and Columbia universities in the United States. This is the only dermatological surgery teaching programme in academic dermatology in Africa.
She has been identified as one of the top 50 women role models and leaders at the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine and was the President and Chair of the successful 1st international Dermatology congress hosted in Durban in 2012. She has co-authored an Atlas on HIV and Skin and contributed numerous chapters in international dermatology textbooks.
As a Senior Specialist and Head in the Department of Dermatology, students and staff have honoured her as the 2013 and 2014 leader and best teacher of the year.
Her Department was recently awarded the 2015 Health MEC Innovation and Excellence award for their efforts, having raised R500 000 to refurbish the dilapidated skin clinic at King Edward VIII Hospital in 2014.
Dlova says she is blessed to be given an opportunity to lead a wonderful and dedicated team of consultants, registrars and nursing staff who are always supportive of one another and a great think tank. She said she is especially grateful to Professor Anisa Mosam who is a great pillar of support and an amazing Deputy Head.
Dlova was honoured by the American Women’s Dermatology Society at the recent World Congress of Dermatology held in Vancouver, Canada, as one of the most influential women achievers in Dermatology together with four other international dermatologists from India, Australia, Saudi Arabia and Brazil.
Dlova, who enjoys cycling and brisk walking, is originally comes from Mtyholo village in the Eastern Cape and is married to Dr Themba Mabaso, a UKZN alumnus. They have one son, Wakithi (19).
Nombuso Dlamini