A physician-scientist treating obesity as the disease it is

Dr Nomathemba Chandiwana is one of Africa's leading voices in obesity medicine. She trained in medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand after a BSc in behavioural neuroscience at Northeastern University in Boston, and holds a Master of Public Health in epidemiology and biostatistics, a Diploma in Child Health and a Higher Diploma in Sexual Health and HIV Medicine. She is completing a PhD in public and population health at Wits.

As Chief Scientific Officer of the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation in Cape Town, she leads large-scale programmes integrating obesity, HIV and non-communicable disease care within public health systems - work recognised with the 2025 United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force Award on NCDs. She serves as a Commissioner on the Nature Medicine Commission on Data-Driven Management of Obesity and on the IFSO/World Obesity Federation Global Obesity Guidelines Task Force.

Previously, as Director and Principal Scientist at Ezintsha, she led and co-led some of the region's most influential clinical trials, including the ADVANCE trial, which changed how antiretroviral therapy is prescribed across the world. That work also uncovered a problem that now defines her clinical practice: significant weight gain and metabolic change in people on modern HIV treatment, especially African women.

Today she treats obesity directly - assessing metabolic health, prescribing and monitoring newer therapies such as GLP-1 receptor agonists where appropriate, and helping patients build treatment plans that hold. She writes and speaks widely about access to obesity care in Africa.

She sees patients by secure video, Monday to Thursday, in focused 30-minute appointments.