Elmi Muller seated at a glass table in a bright white room, framed drawings on the walls

About me

Surgeon. Dean. Mother. And I draw.

I am a South African transplant surgeon and a manager. I have worked in transplantation for more than twenty years, and I have led teams in operating rooms as well as in the business world.

My story

A vision, and the patience to change the system around it.

At Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, I met patients with HIV who had no route to a new kidney. I pioneered transplants from HIV-positive donors to HIV-positive patients, and the results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, were followed closely by transplant programmes in other countries.

Since then my work has been about systems as much as surgery: co-chairing the Declaration of Istanbul against organ trafficking, chairing the Lancet Commission on Transplantation, and becoming the first woman to lead the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University.

Line drawing of a person looking at their scar in a mirror

Four roles

Surgeon, manager, leader, carer

Elmi in the operating room, adjusting the surgical light

Surgeon

Trained at the universities of Pretoria and Cape Town. A specialist at Groote Schuur Hospital from 2007, where I went on to lead General Surgery and the transplant unit.

Elmi at a glass table, explaining with an open hand

Manager

Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University, and the first woman in the role.

Elmi on stage, reaching out to the audience

Leader

Past president of the Southern African Transplantation Society, and a voice on the executive of The Transplantation Society.

Elmi and a colleague operating side by side

Carer

Every system I have changed started with a patient who was being left behind.

Highlights

  • 1995Qualifies as a doctor at the University of Pretoria
  • 2007Specialist surgeon at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town
  • 2011Checkers Shoprite Woman of the Year, health care
  • 2013Fellow of the American College of Surgeons; named one of the most influential women in Africa
  • 2014–18Co-chair of the Declaration of Istanbul Custodian Group
  • 2015HIV-positive transplant results published in the New England Journal of Medicine
  • 2016Women in Transplant Hero Award, The Transplantation Society
  • 2018PhD in Surgery, University of Cape Town
  • 2022Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University
  • TodayChairs the Lancet Commission on Transplantation

Read the full CV (PDF)

Drawing of a surgeon in a pink cap and mask holding an instrument, beside the operating team

Media

In the media

Drawing of hands passing a parcel

Documentary

The HIV-positive transplants

The patients, donors and team behind the programme at Groote Schuur Hospital.
The Lancet

Profile · 2012

A profile in The Lancet

The medical journal’s portrait of me and my work in Cape Town.
Drawing of a glowing pink liver

Event

The Transplant Games

Patients who run, swim and cycle with a donated organ, in their own words and photographs.

All work and writing