After graduating in electrical engineering and working first in the medical device industry and then in an academic hospital setting, I joined the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Cape Town in 1987 and established the Healthcare Technology Management program in 1999 (see www.htm.uct.ac.za), the only one of its kind in the African Region and for which I remain director/convener. I have served in an advisory capacity and as consultant for the World Health Organization and other national and international bodies, including the South African Department of Health and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and am also affiliated with the Graduate School of Technology Management at the University of Pretoria. My interests span the assessment, innovation, application and management of healthcare technologies as well as optimisation of public sector healthcare delivery in resource-scarce settings.