Professor Lucille H Blumberg
MB BCH MMed (Micro) ID (SA) FFTM (RCPS,Glasgow) DTM&H DOH DCH D.Sc (Med) honoris causa Wits and Occupational Health
Professor Lucille Blumberg is currently a Consultant at Right to Care. Right to Care has supported and delivered prevention, care and treatment services for HIV, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted infections and Hepatitis C, whilst also responding to global healthcare emergencies through its various programmes. In her new role, she will focus on creating a One Health programme within RTC especially for rabies; and responding to health emergencies in South Africa and the region.
Until 30 September 2021, she was the Deputy Director at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), of the National Health Laboratory Service, and founding head of the Division of Public Health Surveillance and Response. She is currently medical consultant to the Division for Outbreak Preparedness and Response (incudes Travel Medicine Unit) and medical consultant to the Centre for Emerging, Zoonotic and Parasitic Diseases where her major focus is on malaria, rabies, viral haemorrhagic fevers and zoonotic diseases and travel – related infections.
• Vice Chair, WHO committee for Review of the International Health Regulations during COVID-19, September 2020 to present
• Immediate past chair SAMEC South African Malaria Elimination Committee
• Scientific advisory group member - WHO Neglected Tropical Diseases, 2019 to present
• Scientific advisory group member - WHO Blueprint for Research and Development for Counter Measures for Emerging Diseases, 2015 to present
• Lancet Commissioner One Health, 2019 to present
• International Pathogen Surveillance Network – the Global Pandemic Radar, 2021 to present
She has worked on a number of outbreaks including rabies, avian influenza, cholera, typhoid, and the Lujo virus. She is a medical graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand, an Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology at the University of Stellenbosch, and lecturer in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. University of Pretoria, South Africa. She has specialist qualifications in clinical microbiology, travel medicine, and infectious diseases.
