Prof Charles Hongoro is Acting Divisional Executive, DCES, and Senior Director in the Office of the CEO (OCEO) at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), where he also serves as the Acting Divisional Executive of the Developmental, Capable and Ethical States (DCES) division. He brings over 33 years of experience in research, teaching, and policy engagement across high-, middle-, and low-income country contexts. He holds a PhD in Health Economics and Policy from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), University of London.
Before rejoining the HSRC in July 2013, Prof Hongoro was the Unit Director of the Health Systems Research Unit at the South African Medical Research Council. Within the HSRC, he has held several senior leadership roles, including Strategic Lead on Human Security, Acting Head of the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA), Deputy Executive Director of the former Research Impact Assessment division, and Research Director for Health Systems Financing. He has also served in the HSRC's Policy Analysis Unit as a Research Director and as Acting Director of the Southern African HIV/AIDS Research Alliance (SAHARA).
Prof Hongoro's earlier career includes serving as Programme Director for Health Economics and Systems at the Aurum Institute for Health Research in Johannesburg, as well as Fellow and Lecturer in Health Economics and Systems at LSHTM. He also worked as a Senior Medical Research Officer and Health Economist at the Health Systems Research Unit of the National Institute for Health Research (formerly the Blair Research Institute) in Zimbabwe.
He has held several academic appointments, including Extraordinary Professor of Research at Tshwane University of Technology (2008-2020), Extraordinary Professor of Health Economics and Systems at the University of Pretoria (since 2017), and Honorary Professor at Walter Sisulu University (since 2016).
Prof Hongoro serves on numerous local and international technical and advisory committees and has undertaken extensive consulting work in health economics, health systems financing, programme development, strategic planning, and monitoring and evaluation. His research interests span sustainable development, poverty and inequality, health systems strengthening, and the economics of communicable and non-communicable diseases, including HIV/AIDS and TB. He has authored and co-authored over 100 conference presentations, peer-reviewed journal articles, and book chapters.
