Dr Nonhlanhla Lunjani is a Clinician Scientist at the University of Cape Town working in the overlapping fields of allergy and immunology. Her primary research interests are focused on understanding the complex mechanisms of atopic dermatitis. In particular, she is interested in early childhood atopic dermatitis (AD) and its relationship with allergy development. Her goal is to contribute to the global efforts to identify mitigating strategies for AD specifically, and allergy risk in general, as well as finding novel treatment options for patients who suffer from the disease and promotion of immune health.
Her research at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa investigating children from urban and rural settings, with detailed clinical data and biomarker analysis has led to the description of novel immune endotypes in South African children that are not only AD-related, but also those that are impacted by environmental exposures, living environment and socioeconomic factors. During this time she also completed research fellowships in the immunology lab at the Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF), University of Zurich and at the APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork. She appreciates the value of translational research and her experience has enabled her to collaborate meaningfully across diverse disciplines with committed researchers from around the world and several impactful publications have emanated from her work.