Matthew Chersich is Research Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa and a Visiting Professor at the University of Ghent, Belgium. His career spans more than 20 years working in medical and public health research in Africa. His training encompassed both clinical medicine at Wits, public health at LSHTM and doctoral studies at the University of Ghent. His work on climate change centers on assessing the impacts of climate change on maternal health and HIV, heat-related impacts and adaptation and climate activism. He is leading the NIH HEAT Center, a new data science initiative across Africa within the DSI-Africa, and co-leads the Belmont Forum CHAMNHA project.