Elmi Muller is Professor of Medicine and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. She is awarded an honorary doctorate by the Faculty of Humanities for her pioneering work as a researcher in the international world of transplantation with a focus on ethics and the humanities.
Muller's work is characterised by a multidisciplinary search for knowledge, for example when she incorporates cultural and social science issues in order to understand the emergence of organ trafficking or the treatment of people living with HIV worldwide. She also has a strong commitment to equality, with a focus on post-colonial issues. Understanding the social and cultural mechanisms behind medical phenomena is one of Muller's key concerns, and she has collaborated with medical humanities researchers at the Faculty of Humanities for many years.
Elmi Muller is a transplant surgeon, she was previously head of the transplant unit at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town and was the first woman to be appointed chair of General Surgery at the University of Cape Town. Muller is an international leader in the healthcare sector and President of The Transplantation Society (TTS), the largest international organisation in the field of transplantation.
“Elmi Muller's work, issues and outstanding contributions are relevant to humanities faculties worldwide,” said Anamaria Dutceac Segesten, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities. “Her commitment and expertise are of great importance not only for research conducted in medical humanities but also human rights at our faculty, and she is also an important asset for Lund University's other multidisciplinary research areas.”