Dr. Aneesa Moolla [Principal Researcher]

Dr Aneesa Moolla is currently a Principal Researcher at the Health Economics and Epidemiology Research Office since 2017 as well as a Clinical Supervisor and Lecturer within the Community Dentistry Faculty at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. She also holds a joint appointment in the School of Clinical Medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand. She started her varied professional career with a dental qualification obtained at the University of the Western Cape and has subsequently obtained extensive clinical and academic experience in the field of oral health care and has also previously worked with the Red Cross Flying Doctor Association offering dental care to children in remote rural areas where healthcare was totally inaccessible. She also holds a BA Clinical Psychology (Honours) degree and a masters and doctorate in Psychology of Education (Programme Development) obtained from the University of Johannesburg. Her Masters and PhD research work focused on aggression and resilience in street children culminating in the design of a psycho-educational model to facilitate their mental health for which she was awarded both the Best Thesis and Chancellors Gold Medal Awards. In her professional work capacity, this research has broadened out into the fields of oral healthcare, traditional medicine, reproductive healthcare, early childhood development, HIV prevention, treatment and care. Dr Moolla has worked across all sectors and has gained a diverse set of expert skills in dental private practice, corporate organisations, health systems strengthening, research institutions and clinical research trials. In her current lecturing post, she combines both her Psychology and Dental qualifications in the training and clinical supervision of dental students. She was also selected and participated successfully in the UNESCO International Bioethics Teachers Training Course. Aneesa is regularly invited to lecture at various conferences and seminars on clinical research and ethics in Healthcare as part of the continuing professional development of healthcare professionals. She is currently the PI of a CFAR funded study estimating the prevalence of oral diseases and malignancies; and understanding oral disease progression by HIV status at a Johannesburg academic hospital. She is also the co-investigator on a USAID funded study utilising a discrete choice experiment to assess the preferences of high school learners for accessing HIV and reproductive health services. In addition, Aneesa is the editor of a book on Dental Trauma and has published a varied array of journal articles in several international journals.