Hans Strijdom is a clinician-turned-academic, and currently Professor and Head of the Division of Medical Physiology and Deputy Director of the Centre for Cardio-metabolic Research in Africa at Stellenbosch University. His broader research focuses on the physiology and pathophysiology of the cardiovascular system, with a particular interest in vascular and endothelial biology. Whilst initially conducting mainly laboratory, cell, tissue and organ based research, he has since 2015 shifted to clinical research. In 2015 he was awarded funding via the ERAfrica programme (EU FP7) and became the project coordinator of the EndoAfrica study consortium that included researchers from South Africa, Austria and Belgium. The EndoAfrica study investigated vascular endothelial changes in people living with HIV (PLWH) and people exposed to air pollution. For the past number of years, he has published extensively on the interaction between HIV and cardio-metabolic changes in PLWH. He recently received grants from the NIH and NRF for a study that explores mitochondrial function in PLWH with and without cardiometabolic disease in South Africa and Kenya. Hans, a C2-rated scientist with the NRF, has published 59 peer-reviewed articles and presented over 80 papers at national or international scientific meetings, including 16 as an invited or keynote speaker. He has supervised 17 doctoral candidates, 19 Masters candidates and hosted 8 post-doctoral fellows. Apart from his research activities, Hans is a full-time lecturer in postgraduate and undergraduate human physiology for the MBChB, BSc Physiotherapy, BSc Dietetics, B Nursing and B Occupational Therapy programmes. He has won several general performance (research, teaching and service) and undergraduate teaching awards in the Faculty and University, and received a Lifetime Career Award from the Physiological Society of Southern Africa in 2024.