Photo: Sanford Health delegation meet with key SU representatives to strengthen partnership.
South Africa has the highest prevalence of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), at 111 out of every 1 000 people, according to a recent study conducted in 187 countries. The article on the Huffington Post website, which cites the study, asserts that FASD is a real crisis in this country, needing urgent attention.
FASD refers to the permanent and irreversible conditions caused by the effects of alcohol on a foetus. Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is the most severe – with at least two characteristic facial features, growth retardation in terms of height and weight, a smaller head circumference and central nervous system damage with neurodevelopmental delays.
It is clear that urgent interventions are needed to mitigate the effects of FASD on affected individuals. A recent endowment for a research fellowship in FASD at Stellenbosch University’s Department of Psychiatry by Sanford Health therefore comes at an opportune time.
The endowment was announced during a recent visit by a delegation from Sanford Health to the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) at Stellenbosch University. Sanford Health is one of the largest non-profit, integrated healthcare systems in the United States (US). Sanford Health has also established the Sanford World Clinic initiative, which focuses primarily on International Paediatric Healthcare. Currently it has a presence in four countries.
The fellowship, called the Sanford Hoyme Research Programme in FASD, will support clinical and genetic research in the prevention and treatment of FASD. It is named after the Dr Gene Hoyme, Chief of Genetics and Genomic Medicine and Chief Academic Officer for Sanford Health. He has led FASD research in South Africa for the past 15 years and has helped to establish the prevalence rate of FASD in South Africa, which remains the highest documented rate in the world.
“This research partnership with Stellenbosch University has been revolutionary in terms of our understanding of this condition. Not only in terms of helping to define the extent of the problem here in South Africa, but also in terms of knowing how to make a diagnosis quickly and accurately and a lot of the science around that,” Hoyme said during the unveiling of a plaque in the Department of Psychiatry to acknowledge the sponsors of the fellowship.
Since 2008, Hoyme has collaborated with Prof Soraya Seedat, Head of the Department of Psychiatry at the FMHS. The Department has an established research programme in FASD and Hoyme has been the chief dysmorphologist in a series of successive studies in the Western Cape, funded by the National Institutes of Health in the US. Over the years, Hoyme has mentored numerous early career researchers and clinicians in South Africa.
“The endowment will allow for the appointment of a talented early career research fellow, in perpetuity, who will be closely mentored by Dr Hoyme,” said Seedat.
“The FASD research team is also very excited about the possibility of establishing a Research Chair in Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders in the near future, to sustain and expand much needed interventional and predictive-diagnostic research in this area,” Seedat concluded.
Dr Gene Hoyme with Prof Soraya Seedat.
