Dr Emmanuel Taban is a clinician, educator and advocate whose journey from South Sudan to South African medical leadership inspires resilience, purpose and service. A pulmonologist and director of the Immunology, Lung and Heart Institute in Pretoria, he combines frontline critical-care experience with international training in advanced bronchoscopy and respiratory medicine. He has led ICU teams, driven research into COVID-19 immunology, and published on therapeutic bronchoscopy in critically ill patients.

Academic training centres and qualifications: Medical University of Southern Africa (MEDUNSA) — MBChB; University of Pretoria — MMed (Internal Medicine); Colleges of Medicine of South Africa — Certificate in Pulmonology; European Respiratory Society (HERMES Diploma, ERS Diploma); advanced bronchoscopy/EBUS training at Amsterdam UMC and Copenhagen; Interstitial Lung Disease program, Centre for Pulmonology Heidelberg; research and ethics training, Clinical Trials Centre, University of Hong Kong; immunology coursework, University of the Witwatersrand. Beyond the hospital, Dr Taban channels his passion for human development into community initiatives: patron of the Emmanuel Taban Foundation for Skills Development; ambassador for the Ruth First Scholarship for girls at Jeppe Girls’ High School and Rally to Read; supporter of literacy and youth empowerment; and founder/host of the weekly academic Sanocare podcast promoting medical education and public health dialogue.

Honours: Named African Person of the Year (Daily Maverick, 2021); Most Influential African (New African, 2020); nominated for the Aurore Prize for Awakening Humanity (2022). Speaker themes: leadership in crisis, resilience and recovery, building purpose-driven teams, healthcare innovation in resource-limited settings, youth empowerment and skills development.