09 July 2025
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Story Gerda-Marié van Rooyen
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Photo Lunga Luthuli
From the left: Prof Jacky van Wyk (keynote speaker); Prof Anthea Rhoda, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic; Prof Lynette van der Merwe, SAAHE 2025 Distinguished Educator and Head of the Division of Health Sciences Education, Faculty of Health Sciences, UFS; Prof Gert van Zyl, recipient of the SAAHE 2025 Council Medal and Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, UFS; and Prof Helena Prior Filipe (keynote speaker).
The event, held from 1 to 4 July 2025 at UFS’s Bloemfontein Campus, was a full-circle moment, with two UFS academics receiving prestigious awards.
Prof Gert van Zyl, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, received the SAAHE Council Medal for his outstanding contribution to health professions education. Prof Lynette van der Merwe, Academic Head of the Division of Health Sciences Education, received the Distinguished Educator Award for her significant impact on teaching and scholarship in the field.
Rediscovering and reimagining identity
In his welcoming speech, Prof Van Zyl said Bloemfontein holds a special place in the history of SAAHE, as the UFS hosted the International Conference on Health Professions Education in 2003, which led to the transformation of the then-dormant SA Association for Medical Education into SAAHE.
Dr Helena Prior Filipe from Portugal’s University of Lisbon was the first keynote speaker. In her address, ‘Reconstructing Professional Identity in Health Professions Education. Revive. Renew. Reconnect’, she urged educators to reconceptualise themselves as connected, compassionate professionals within an evolving network.
Prof Jacky van Wyk presented her keynote address on the second day. This professor from the University of Cape Town’s Department of Health Sciences Education spoke about post-COVID burnout and the pressure on educators to adapt to Generation Z’s tech-driven learning. She called for renewed commitment to compassion and lifelong learning. The session concluded with a proposed Educator’s Pledge for renewed commitment to compassion, accountability, and lifelong learning.
On the last day, Prof Anthea Rhoda shared how leadership identity evolves from clinician to academic leader, highlighting self-awareness, collaboration, and innovation across disciplines in her address, ‘Leadership as an evolving identity: Journeying from Clinician to Academic Leader’. Concluding with her journey from clinical coordinator to Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic at UFS, she highlighted how the health sciences uniquely prepare professionals for leadership and called on future leaders to step forward. “The academy needs you,” she said.
The conference in numbers
Prof Elize Archer, Associate Professor and Chair of the SAAHE Council, said more than 200 abstract submissions were received. “This is evident of a thriving scholarly community committed to the advancement of health professions education,” she added.
In closing, Prof Archer encouraged delegates to revive their passion, renew their approaches, and reconnect as a committed community of health professions educators.