Nelesh Govender, MBBCh, MMed, FCPath(SA)
Head, Centre for Opportunistic, Tropical and Hospital Infections
National Institute for Communicable Diseases/ NHLS
Johannesburg, South Africa

Nelesh P. Govender is Head of the Centre for Opportunistic, Tropical and Hospital Infections, National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in Johannesburg, South Africa and a lecturer in the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand.

Dr Govender received his medical degree in 1997 from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.  He completed his internship at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town in 1998 and his specialist registrar training in clinical microbiology at the University of the Witwatersrand Academic Hospital Complex, Johannesburg in 2005. He also worked within the Infectious Diseases Unit at the 3000-bed Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, Soweto. Dr Govender has additional formal training in clinical HIV management, tropical medicine and medical mycology.

Dr Govender has a special interest in mycoses and directs the Mycology Reference Laboratory at NICD. His work is focused on public health surveillance and outbreak response for fungal diseases that are of importance in South Africa. The NICD has conducted population-based surveillance for cryptococcal meningitis since 2002 and sentinel surveillance for candidemia since 2009. Dr Govender has been involved in efforts to implement national screening for cryptococcal disease in collaboration with the South African Department of Health and other partners. As a member of several Guidelines Development Committees, he is also involved in writing national and international guidelines for diagnosis and management of cryptococcal meningitis among HIV-infected persons.