Kirsten A. Donald

Head of Division of Developmental Paediatrics and Deputy Director of the Donald Gordon Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, University of Cape Town
Prof Kirsty Donald is Deputy Director of the UCT Neuroscience Institute and for the last 15 years has headed up the Division of Developmental Paediatrics at the Red Cross Children’s War Memorial Hospital. Scientifically, she has contributed to our understanding of the role antenatal exposures play in shaping early brain development, and to our understanding of both phenotypic variability and genetic variation in developmental conditions in the African region. Internationally, she has served on the UNICEF expert panel for global standard-setting in early childhood development, and is a member of the WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Mental Health, Brain Health and Substance Use. Paying forward, Prof Donald has a deep commitment to training and expanding expertise in African neuroscience. Currently, she also leads a large, internationally funded research and capacity-development portfolio in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health and the Neuroscience Institute.

Prof Donald’s lecture will discuss the remarkable early development of the human brain, based in Africa, home to the fastest growing childhood population. Working with mothers and infants from communities in South Africa, Malawi and Kenya, and using measures of biological health, social interaction and innovative imaging techniques, Prof Donald will explore brain growth and development through the first thousand days of life, when and how early life exposures and experiences impact on the brain’s development in this region, and what we can do to leave no child behind.