Matthew Chersich

Executive Director & Research Professor

Matthew Chersich is a Research Professor and executive director at Wits Planetary Health Research division, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa and a Research Fellow at Public Health and Primary Care, School of Medicine, Trinity College, Ireland. He is a medical doctor who has worked on public health research across Africa for around 20 years and with World Health Organisation and other international organisations. After medical school at the University of Witwatersrand, Matthew studied public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and doctoral studies at Ghent University, Belgium. His research covers the impacts of climate change on health, especially in pregnancy, and the assessment of adaptation interventions.

He is leading the NIH HE²AT Center on data science and climate change and Wellcome Trust grants that examine the biological pathways mediating heat effects in pregnancy and the effectiveness of adaptation interventions.