Prof Willie van Heerden

Academic History:
Professor Willie van Heerden is Head of the Department of Oral Pathology and Oral Biology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He qualified as a dentist at the University of Pretoria in 1981 and obtained a Master of Dentistry in the specialisation field of Oral Pathology cum laude from the same institution in 1988. He then joined the Medical University of Southern Africa as an Oral Pathologist before returning to his Alma Mater in 1996 as Head of the Department of Oral Pathology and Oral Biology. He completed his PhD in 1997 followed by a DSc in 2003.

Accolades:
He was elected to the Academy of Science of South Africa in 2005 and was elected as one of the University of Pretoria’s 100 leading minds over the past century in 2008. He has served on the Council of the International Association of Oral Pathologists and served as President of this Association in 2010 – 2012. He has received the University of Pretoria’s Education Innovation Award on two occasions and received the University’s Exceptional Academic Achiever Award for 10 years.

His areas of research include the oral manifestations of HIV/AIDS, especially the HIV/AIDS associated malignancies of the head and neck, potentially malignant lesions and oral cancer, high-resolution DNA flow cytometry of solid tumours and diagnostic histopathology of the head and neck. He is still actively involved in diagnostic histopathology and has contributed more than 160 peer reviewed publications to the scientific literature. His hobbies include astronomy, fly-fishing, photography, open water swimming and scuba-diving