Marietjie Van Aardt Venter or simply Marietjie Venter, is a South African

virologist Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, the ...

and researcher. She serves as a distinguished professor and research chair in Emerging Viral Threats & One Health (EViTOH) in the Infectious Disease and Oncology Research Institute (IDORI) at the University of the Witwatersrand. Since 2021, she has chaired the

SAGO Sago () is a starch extracted from the pith, or spongy core tissue, of various tropical palm stems, especially those of ''Metroxylon sagu''. It is a major staple food for the lowland peoples of New Guinea and the Maluku Islands, where it is c ...

, a

WHO The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has 6 regional offices and 15 ...

permanent advisory body on the origins of

emerging infectious disease An emerging infectious disease (EID) refer to infectious diseases that have either newly appeared in a population or have existed but are rapidly increasing in incidence, geographic range, or severity due to factors such as environmental change ...

s including

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. Prior to this, Venter has been serving in the Department of Medical Virology at the University of Pretoria since 2005, leading the Zoonotic Arbo & Respiratory Viruses research program and co-founding the Centre for Viral Zoonoses and is the Director for the Centre for Emerging arbo and respiratory virus research (CEARV) in an extraordinary Professor position at

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria (, ) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and ''de facto'' capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of the Johan ...

. Between 2009 and 2014, Venter served as co-director of the Centre for Respiratory Diseases and

Meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasion ...

at NICD and from 2014-2016 One Health Programme director, for the Global Disease Detection Centre, of the US-CDC in South Africa. In 2013, she won the NSTF award for the best output by a senior scientist within the previous 5 to 10 years in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Since 2020, she has been the vice president of the World Society for Virology responsible for Africa, and the president-elect of the organization since 2024.

Education

In 1993, Venter attended the University of Pretoria, in South Africa where she graduated with a bachelor's degree and master's of science in

Genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

, in 1997 and 1999 respectively. Subsequently, she further enrolled in the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa to pursue a PhD in Medical Virology, where she earned the degree in 2003. She received postdoctoral training at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Bethesda, Maryland at the

National Institute of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Servic ...

West Nile virus West Nile virus (WNV) is a single-stranded RNA virus that causes West Nile fever. It is a member of the family ''Flaviviridae'', from the genus ''Flavivirus'', which also contains the Zika virus, dengue virus, and yellow fever virus. The virus ...

in 2003.

Activities

While she was an associate professor at the

, Venter established the Zoonotic Arbo & Respiratory Viruses research program in 2006, a program which has conducted studies on various

s. Venter was eventually promoted to full professor in 2016 when she returned to UP full-time and she co-founded the Centre for Viral Zoonoses in the department of Medical Virology at the

heading the

One Health One Health is an approach calling for "the collaborative efforts of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally, to attain optimal health for people, animals and our environment", as defined by the One Health Initiative Task Fo ...

program on zoonotic Arbo and respiratory viruses. In October 2023, Venter launched the Centre of Emerging Arbo and Respiratory Virus Research (CEARV) at the University of Pretoria where she has served as the director and extraordinary professor since April 2024. She established the Emerging Viral Threat, One Health surveillance and vaccines (EViTOH) division under the Infectious Disease and Oncology Institute (IDORI) at the University of the Witwatersrand in April 2014. Apart from chairing the

, she also serves as a Special Advisor to the

on Respiratory Syncytial Virus surveillance on the Global Influenza Surveillance Platform and is a Member of the Technical Advisory Group on Arboviruses (TAG-Arbo).

Career

After graduating with a master's degree in

at the University of Pretoria, in 1999, Venter joined the

National Institute for Communicable Diseases The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) is the national public health institute of South Africa, providing reference to microbiology, virology, epidemiology, surveillance and public health research to support the government's r ...

. She served as head of the respiratory syncytial virus laboratory until 2002. Subsequently, she was promoted to position of principal scientist in the Special Pathogens Unit at the institution, where she served until 2005. In November 2005, Venter joined the University of Pretoria as a senior lecturer in the department of Medical Virology. In addition, in 2009, Venter returned to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases where she was appointed head of the Centre for Respiratory Diseases and

. She served in this position until 2014 when she joined the US-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in South Africa, Venter served as the

program director for the Global Disease Detection Centre until 2016. She accepted a position as a distinguished Professor and Research chair in Emerging Viral Threats and One Health (EViTOH) in the newly established Infectious Disease and Oncology Research Institute (IDORI) at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...

in April 2024. Since 2020, Venter has been the vice president of the World Society for Virology responsible for Africa and President-elect since 2024.

Memberships

Venter is a member of various scientific organizations and societies including the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), the World Society for Virology(WSV), and the Federation of Infectious Diseases Societies of Southern Africa (FIDSSA) where she co-leads the Virology group and in the process of establishing this to the Southern Africa Virology Society. She is also a member of the National Genomic Surveillance South Africa group (NGS-SA) that described various COVID-19 variants during the pandemic including Omicron. She is on the Global One Health Community scientific advisory board and chairs the organizing committee for the 8th World One Health Congress (WOHC) that will be held in

in September 2024.

Recognitions

In 2013, Venter won the National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) award for the best output by a senior scientist within the previous 5 to 10 years in

Publications

Google Scholar Marietjie Venter

Researchgate/Marietjie Venter

Marietjie Venter- ORCID

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Venter, Marietjie South African virologists Living people South African physicians COVID-19 researchers University of Pretoria alumni University of the Witwatersrand alumni Year of birth missing (living people)