Our Leadership
The CEC Africa vision is stewarded by an understanding that what is needed to strengthen emergency care systems is an alternative conceptualization of leadership that privileges relationships and collective sensemaking. These values are embodied in our Leadership team.
Dr Shaheem de Vries
Founder and Managing Director
Shaheem is a medical doctor with over 20 years of experience, demonstrating exceptional leadership in complex environments within the public healthcare system. Currently, he holds the esteemed position of Chief Executive Officer at Groote Schuur Hospital, one of Africa’s leading academic hospitals. Prior to this, he successfully led the Western Cape Government emergency medical services (2013-2022), showcasing his ability to navigate challenging situations with ease.
Shaheem is a charter member of the African Federation for Emergency Medicine (AFEM) and served as its Chief Executive Officer between 2016 – 2019. During this time, he played a pivotal role as a core member of the Out of Hospital Emergency Care (OHEC) working group, dedicated to strengthening out-of-hospital emergency care systems across the African continent. His global impact is further evident in his role as one of the global EMS experts to the WHO Emergency Care systems working group.
Dr De Vries holds a MBChB from the University of Cape Town, a Diploma in Primary Emergency Care from the College of Medicine South Africa, a Master’s in Emergency Medicine and an MBA from the University of Cape Town.
Dr Charmaine Cunningham
Director
Charmaine’s career spans several worlds including clinical care, education, management, and research, having practiced various aspects of acute care; including pre-hospital, remote medicine, critical and emergency care. She has also fulfilled both management and leadership positions in each of these domains.
Charmaine holds an MBA and has been awarded her doctorate at the University of Cape Town. She is driven by an understanding as to how we can build capacity and leadership in healthcare by improving cross-silo collaboration, sensemaking, teamwork, and process improvement. Charmaine believes that these are key to strengthening the health system and improving access to care. A passionate and energetic educator, Dr Cunningham’s research interests include access to care, education, sense-making, and community-based emergency care/response systems.
Dr Joseph Kalanzi
Director
Joseph Kalanzi is an emergency physician, practicing in Uganda at the Department of Anaesthesia and Emergency Medicine. He holds a masters of medicine in Emergency medicine from Makerere University and MSc in Emergency Medicine from the University of Cape Town. He is a founder president of the Emergency Care Society of Uganda (previously Emergency Medicine Uganda) and founder of the Association of Ambulance Professionals of Uganda. He has served in various roles in emergency care in Uganda and beyond, including the Uganda National Ambulance Service (2015-17) and the African Federation of Emergency Medicine. His work revolves around emergency care systems, medical education and pre-hospital care.