About Us

Established in 2024, Wits Planetary Health Research (Wits PHR) conducts pioneering, cutting-edge planetary health research with a focus on the effects of climate change on public health. We are a division of Wits Health Consortium (Pty) Ltd, a research consortium in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, our network extends internationally, with a presence in South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.

Our Foundation

The division is led by Professor Matthew Chersich , a public health researcher with 20 years of experience working across Africa. A leading expert on the health impacts of climate change, particularly in relation to pregnancy and heat exposure, Professor Chersich recognised the urgent need for focused research in sub-Saharan Africa's resource-constrained settings. In 2018, he comprehensive bodies of work on the subject globally. This groundbreaking work laid the foundation for critical questions in the climate crises, the defining issue of our time and indeed the future of health of the planet, both the human and natural world.

Our Vision

A healthier, more just world—where African-led research drives climate-resilient health systems and shapes global action.

Our Mission

We generate actionable, African-led research on climate and health that empowers communities, informs policy, and strengthens health systems.

Our Core Values

• Equity: We challenge injustice in health and research, centre marginalised voices, redress power imbalances, and prioritise those most affected.
• Integrity: Our work is grounded in rigorous science and guided by ethical standards, honest communication, transparency, and accountable partnerships.
• Collaboration: We build strong, reciprocal partnerships and co-create knowledge across sectors, disciplines, borders and boundaries.
• Excellence: We commit to producing rigorous, relevant, actionable, and impactful high-quality science.
• Sustainability: We work toward practical, responsive solutions that endure beyond projects and funding cycles—scalable, climate-resilient, and grounded in approaches that protect health, strengthen policy, and deliver lasting value for future generations.
• Innovation: We embrace new tools, methods, and ideas to solve complex problems.
• Impact: We focus on generating evidence that leads to real change.
• Community: We listen, learn, and act in partnership with lived experience that is grounded in local expertise.

Our Guiding Principles

• Community First: Our research is built with and for the communities it aims to serve.
• No Research Without Relationships: Trust, reciprocity, and time underpin our partnerships and build impact.
• Bridge Global and Local: We draw from global innovation but stay rooted in local context.
• Build, Don’t Borrow: We invest in local skills and capacity, for now and the future.
• Stay Anchored in Purpose: Our "why" guides us through complexity and change.

Our Team

Our team brings together specialists in public health, climate science, data sciences, social sciences and more.