MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit (DPHRU)

To improve the health of South Africans through researching and developing interventions to reduce the risk/prevalence of chronic disease at critical developmental periods across the lifespan.

The MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit (DPHRU) is situated in the Department of Paediatrics in the School of Clinical Medicine. Addressing the national priorities of increasing life expectancy, decreasing maternal and child mortality and strengthening health system effectiveness, DPHRU forms a unique research platform with substantial infrastructure and equipment, extensive longitudinal data from the Birth to Twenty cohort, and well-established links with the urban and rural South African communities. Specifically, DPHRU investigates genetic, physiological, psycho-social, and lifestyle determinants of growth and development, obesity and risk of cardiometabolic disease, and healthy ageing through innovative multi-disciplinary methodologies across the lifespan.

Research trusts associated with DPHRU: