Professor Christa Janse Van Rensburg

CHRISTA is a qualified rheumatologist and a Sports and Exercise Medicine (SEM) Professor at the University of Pretoria. Founder Member of the College of Sport and Exercise Medicine in South Africa, Immediate Past President of the South African Sports Medicine Association, Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and Member of the Scientific Committee of the IOC World Conference (Monaco, 2021 and 2024). Chairperson of the Medical Advisory Panel of World Netball. Committee member of FIFA’s Consensus Meeting on Injury and Illness Surveillance Methodology and the International Tennis Federation’s Classification Science Advisory Group. Regularly presented at conferences and was invited to lecture for the Royal Society of Medicine. Peer-reviewed publications exceed 100. Her DMed (PhD) proved that exercise benefits patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Current research focuses on travel effects on athletes, injuries, and illness in different sporting disciplines, e.g. trail running and netball. Accompanied many sports teams as a sports physician to the Olympic, Commonwealth, and All-African Games and was Venue Medical Officer for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. She is actively practicing as a rheumatologist with a special interest in SEM