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Frater Celebration Day Hybrid Conference to be held on 5 May 2022

04 May 2022

Robert Frater — The research efforts in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery in the Faculty of Health Sciences, UFS, have come a long way since the establishment of a homograft bank, animal research, and laboratory-based research on cardioplegia by Prof Hannes Meyer in the 1980s

Several world-class scientists and academics in the field of cardiovascular research will converge at the University of the Free State (UFS) on Thursday (5 May 2022) for a one-day hybrid conference to explore and celebrate the massive strides made in this critical field at the UFS Robert W M Frater Cardiovascular Research Centre.

The research efforts in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery in the Faculty of Health Sciences, UFS, have come a long way since the establishment of a homograft bank, animal research, and laboratory-based research on cardioplegia by Prof Hannes Meyer in the 1980s. Renewed interest in 2004 under the leadership of Prof Francis E Smit culminated in the establishment of the Robert W M Frater Cardiovascular Research Centre (the Frater Centre) in 2015. This was made possible through donor funding, especially by Dr Robert W M Frater MD PhD (honoris causa, UFS), a South Africa-born New York-based cardiothoracic surgeon, researcher and innovator as infrastructure and project support by the UFS.

The vision of the Frater Centre is to be a leading cardiovascular research institution in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. It provides an interdisciplinary training and research platform for scientists and clinicians from different backgrounds to develop as researchers and collaborators in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery and related domains. Activities are focused on the development of African solutions for African problems.

Three main divisions
The Frater Celebration day will highlight the achievements made thus far in a hybrid format in four sessions, which can be attended on a virtual platform or in person. The centre’s local and international collaborators will participate in the programme, and Dr Ronnie van der Merwe, the Group CEO of Mediclinic International, is the guest of honour.

The Frater Centre consists of three main divisions, all of which will form part of the focus of the conference programme in various forms during the day:

1) The Clinical Research Division addresses cardiovascular disease on a broad front, ranging from population and prevalence studies, healthcare solutions and clinical outcomes studies in a specific South African and African context.

2) The Research, Development and Commercialisation division is divided into Tissue Engineering and Cell Biology, Tissue Banking and Large Animal studies, and bioengineering to develop African solutions and technology within these domains.

3) The Simulation Programme provides an integrated interdisciplinary platform for the education and training of individuals and teams in cardiovascular, thoracic, anaesthetic, perfusion technology and related nursing fields in a state-of-the-art simulation unit. The research centre is developing a unique and leading programme and systems in this field. This endeavour is also developing IT models for training, evaluation and research.

The Frater Centre and 4IR
The Centre is firmly established in the fourth industrial revolution. It is new technology-driven, creating new IT platforms and boasts extensive interdisciplinary projects at the biomedical sector's local, national, and international levels.

It is essential to note that the extensive and successful collaboration within the Frater Centre not only exists on institutional level but also nationally and internationally. These collaborators assist, mentor, direct and contribute to the research activities.

Click: Link to the event
Event programme

News Archive

Innovation the focus of 28th Sophia Gray Memorial Lecture

2016-09-06

Description: Stratford furniture design Tags: Stratford furniture design

Stratford never lost his passion for designing
furniture. Pictured here is some of his furniture
exhibited at the Oliewenhuis Art Museum.
Photo: Francois van Vuuren: iFlair Photography

Al Stratford, designer, inventor and architect, presented the 28th Sophia Gray Memorial Lecture on 25 August at the Reservoir at the Oliewenhuis Art Museum in Bloemfontein. The event, hosted by the Department of Architecture at the University of the Free State, was also the opening of an exhibition of Stratford’s work.

In his career of 40 years, Stratford has patented many products and won several awards in industrial design and architecture. He is known in South Africa for his development of innovative building technology such as the Winblok Precast Concrete Window System. In 2009 and 2010, he also served as president of the South African Institute of Architects.

The title of his lecture was: Reductive Innovation in Architecture. Throughout his career, Stratford endeavoured – through his designs and inventions – to apply the principle of “reduction” to the building material he used and technology he examined.

Stratford designs and builds smart buildings
Stratford says a home is the paradigm of self-expression. His career as architect started with the building of five houses in Gonubie, near East London. Everything he knew about architecture at that stage, he had taught himself by reading on the subject at the local library. Later on, he achieved great heights in his career by designing and building, among others, the Stratford Guesthouse; the sustainable and resourcefully designed campus buildings for the University of Fort Hare (an institutional building not utilising any electrical air-conditioning); the Edenvale Baptist Church; and a community hall.

His technology is widely used in the building industry

“The arrogance in me gets humiliated when I
see what other people and God has done.”

His technical drawing skills, acquired at an early age during his training as motor mechanic, are still practised years later, particularly in his inventions. Stratford is the inventor of technology commonly used in the building industry today. Of these, the Winblok window system which he patented in 1981, is one of his best known patents. The use of these windows is characteristic of many of the buildings he designed and built. Other technology he invented and patented, includes the Winstep stairs, the Windeck flooring system, and the StratFlex furniture technology.

Furniture designs win him awards
He likes to quote architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe: “A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is easier.” Stratford started designing and manufacturing his own furniture and never lost this passion. In 2013, he won the Innovation Award at the Design Indaba for his “flat pack” furniture technology.

The humble Stratford – designer, inventor, industrialist, and architect – says he is simply playing around with God’s creation. “The arrogance in me gets humiliated when I see what other people and God has done.”

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