African Perspectives on Ethics for Healthcare Professionals

Professor Nico Nortjé has been involved with ethics training and research for the past two decades. Nico has a doctorate in Applied Ethics from the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa) and also holds two masters degrees one in Psychology (cum laude) and one in Future Studies (Business) from the same university. He also has a post-graduate diploma in Clinical Counselling from the University of Glasgow (Scotland) and another post-graduate diploma from the University of Pretoria (South Africa) in Medical Law. Having more than thirty peer reviewed articles to his name, a peer reviewer for various ethics journals, contributing a chapters on ethics for various text books, having taught ethics at tertiary level, Nico is also involved in professional ethics development of health care providers, andwas recently awarded a national rating from the NRF indicating his contribution to the field of ethics. Nico is often approached by industry specific journals to write articles/opinion pieceson ethics by combining his vast knowledge (ethics, psychology and business), experience as well as training. He has presented academic papers at various International conferences on ethics, morals, training and morality. Presently Nico is a clinical ethicist at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, Texas, USA), where he is daily engaged in ethical discussion with patients, their families and the care team.

Professor Willem Hoffmann is a Full Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology (TUT)(South Africa). He holds a DEd degree in Psychology of Education from the Rand Afrikaans University (now known as the University of Johannesburg, South Africa), as well as a Postgraduate Diploma in International Research Ethics from the University of Cape Town (South Africa). In 2002 and 2003 he completed a prestigious Commonwealth Doctoral Residency at the University of Alberta (Canada). Since 2008 he has been the Chairperson of the TUT Research Ethics Committee. Also, he is currently a member of the Research Ethics Committee of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa and the Ethics Committee of the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA). Prof Hoffmann has presented several scholarly talks and posters at conferences in Turkey, Brazil, China, The Netherlands, Sudan and Italy. He has been the author or co-author of 30 research articles in national and international scientific journals. In addition, he has published scholarly chapters on Ethics Education Assessment and Benefit-sharing in the recently published Encyclopaedia of Global Bioethics. Six masters and seven doctoral students have already successfully completed their studies under his supervision.

Professor Jo-Celene de Jongh has more than 35 years of experience as an academic, educator and manager in the Department of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Community and Health Sciencesat the University of the Western Cape (South Africa). She has extensive experience in the areas of, education, ethics, research, rehabilitation and management. Currently, she is the Chair of the National Ethics Committee of the Occupational Therapy Association of South Africa and the Vice Chair of the Research Committee. She has consistently presented at International and National Conferences over the years. The majority of the conference papers were converted into research articles that were published in Accredited Peer Reviewed Journals. In addition, she is an active reviewer and member of the Editorial Board for various journals. Her research interest focuses on education, ethics and training in occupational therapy and have published several articles in this area. She has been the Principle Researcher in an International collaborative research project on Ethics between the University of the Western Cape and the University of Missouri and a Co-Researcher in various interdisciplinaryresearch projects for health professionals. Annually, she facilitates Continuous Professional Development (CPD) workshops on Ethics for Health Professionals in the various fields of practice. She has also served on various Scientific Committees for the Occupational Therapy African Region Congress (OTARG) and the Occupational Therapy Association of South Africa (OTASA) Congress.