Prof Vernon Louw MBChB (Stell), MMed(Int Med)(Stell), PhD(HPE)(UFS), is the Chair and Head of the Division of Clinical Haematology in the Department of Medicine at the University of Cape Town since April 2018. He held previous roles as Professor and Head of the Department of Internal Medicine at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein since 2013 and Head of Division of Clinical Haematology from 2004 to 2013. After completing his MBChB and MMed in Internal Medicine at the University of Stellenbosch (both summa cum laude), he spent three years at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven training in Clinical Haematology. In 2011, he obtained his PhD in Health Professions Education at the University of the Free State, studying postgraduate education in transfusion medicine.
In 2015 he received the National South African Registrar Association Award for Excellence in Teaching and Research Supervision. He has a special interest in iron-related disorders, both iron deficiency and transfusional iron overload.
He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters with more than 300 poster and oral presentations at local, national, and international meetings and conferences. He is a member of the American Association for Blood Banking (AABB), the International Society for Blood Transfusion (ISBT), the American Society for Hematology (ASH) and the European Haematology Association (EHA). He also serves on the World Health Organisation Strategic Committee for Patient Blood Management, the Global Transfusion Forum Steering Committee and Education Subcommittee, the Global Standards Committee for Transfusion Medicine and the International Collaborative for Transfusion Medicine Guidelines committee (ICTMG).