Maromi Health Research is a small but vibrant public health research organisation. Based in Durban, South Africa, we work around the country and across the continent.

Click here for Mark's full CV or here for his CV in European Union required format.

Mark Colvin MBChB, MS, is the CEO of Maromi Health Research and the Head Researcher. Mark is a medical doctor and epidemiologist with 25 years experience in the field of public health research in southern Africa. He was previously a director of CADRE (Centre for AIDS Development, Research and Evaluation) and prior to that worked for the South African Medical Research Council for 10 years.

For the last 14 years Mark’s focus has been on infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections and TB. Prior to the introduction of democracy in South Africa in 1994, he worked for the emerging, black trade union movement in the field of occupational health.

Mark has over 38 publications in peer-reviewed journals and books, he reviews manuscripts for many journals and is a frequent contributor to a variety of newspapers and magazines. In 2002 Mark was appointed honorary lecturer in the Dept. of Community Health at the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban. He has had collaborations with many international organizations including the US NIH, Wellcome Trust, the World Health Organisation, the World Bank, DFID, Family Health International, USAID and with local partners including the Medical Research Council (MRC), the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), the Health Systems Trust and various universities.

Mark designed the “South African National HIV and Syphilis Antenatal Survey” protocol and has been the consultant epidemiologist on several national HIV prevalence and behavioural studies among health workers, teachers and on two, national, community-based studies. In addition, he has conducted similar studies in prisons and in workplaces for over 40 different companies and local authorities.

Recently, Mark completed a collaborative study into the operational effectiveness of the national Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV programme in South Africa. Starting in 2005, Mark conducted background research and then implemented a comprehensive HIV prevention and treatment programme (called ALAFA) for the garment industry in Lesotho. This award winning programme provides services to 45 000 garment workers.

Recently, Mark was the Coordinator for a UNAIDS/World Bank 5 country HIV epidemiology and prevention review project. He is currently the Team Leader on two large EC funded HIV projects in the tertiary education sector. One of these projects has involved assessing the HIV workplace programmes for 22 universities in South Africa and then working with the institutions to implement care and treatment programmes.

Helen Ibbetson has recently joined Maromi Health Research as a Researcher and Data Analyst. She obtained her Honours in Psychology and Masters degree in population studies from the University of Natal. Click here for Helen's CV

Since joining Maromi she has worked on the following projects: Integrated Biological and Behavioural Surveillance Survey (IBBSS) in the Commercial Agricultural sector in the provinces of Mpumalanga and Limpopo - South Africa. Evaluation of the iLembe District Child Survival Project' Community PMTCT. Pilot Study on HIV and Cities conducted in Durban, South Africa.

Prior to joining Maromi Health Research, Helen worked for the Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She was a Research Intern on a three country study (South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia), investigating the Impact of HIV on Health Systems.