PROF SORAYA SEEDAT, distinguished professor of psychiatry and executive head in the Department of Psychiatry at Stellenbosch University

Why we think she’s brilliant: Prof Seedat has about 20 years’ experience of clinical and epidemiological research in the field of neuroscience. She holds the South African Research Chair in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and is the director of the South African Medical Research Council’s Genomics of Brain Disorders Research Unit.

Regarded as a leading expert in posttraumatic stress and anxiety disorders, she directs several research programmes into PTSD, HIV and foetal alcohol spectrum disorders, and has an extensive portfolio of neuroscience projects.

A key area of her research is how risk and resilience work in stressrelated disorders in people exposed to lifethreatening trauma, and investigating effective and pragmatic treatments where resources are scarce. For the past three years, she has worked to improve child and adolescent access to mental health services, part of which involved developing a mental health screening app for nurses in clinics in SA and Zambia. Prof Seedat also helped to create awareness around mental health during the Covid19 pandemic, organising and cohosting a webinar training series for mental health professionals and healthcare providers globally to build capacity in screening for, diagnosis of and management of mental health problems.

What drives her: Relentless curiosity and deepseated impatience. Despite numerous breakthroughs in psychiatry, she believes the world is still far from quick and effective interventions that would dramatically improve the course and outcome of mental disorders. ‘The brain is exquisitely unique and highly complex, and it continues to confound us all!’

She says: ‘There is no better way to sustainably advance neuroscience and psychiatry research on the continent than to nurture more critical thinkers and passionate doers, especially women.’