Celebrated Cardiologist Bongani Mayosi Dies

The 51-year-old University of Cape Town researcher had been suffering from depression, and his death has prompted reflection on being a black academic in South Africa.

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ABOVE: At the time of his death, Mayosi was lead investigator for a multi-country study on the effectiveness of steroids as treatment for infectious diseases and their complications.
YOUTUBE, UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN

Bongani Mayosi, a prominent cardiologist and dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, died of suicide on July 27. He was 51.

“In the last two years he has battled with depression and on that day [Friday] took the desperate decision to end his life,” his family said in a statement at the time, News24 reports. “We are still struggling to come to terms with this devastating loss.”

Born in 1967, Mayosi grew up under apartheid in the Transkei region of South Africa. Homeschooled by his mother as a child, he later studied medicine at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, incorporating a year of research to qualify for a BMedSci ...

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Meet the Author

  • Catherine Offord

    Catherine is a science journalist based in Barcelona.
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