UCT Inaugural Lecture | Prof Komala Pillay

This is a recording of the University of Cape Town Inaugural Lecture on Thursday, 30 October 2025, by Professor Komala Pillay, titled "Give the PATH Less Travelled a Chance – It May Turn Out to be Magical". Anatomical Pathology as a specialty in Medicine is not well known by the public and school learners. Growing up, I gravitated towards Paediatrics until I completed an entire year of Anatomical Pathology in my third year. At this point, the University of Natal Medical School introduced a student internship programme where students could conduct a research project in any discipline and mentor students at the same time. I chose Anatomical Pathology as I felt relatively knowledgeable in the field, only to realise that I still had very little idea about the full impact of the service or the actual career until I joined the department as a student intern. This was an invaluable experience that many medical students do not have the privilege of, and which led me to choose a fascinating career that has also allowed academic development. In my talk, I will pay tribute to my family, collaborators, mentors, colleagues and students and highlight how the service has contributed to research and teaching. About our speaker Professor Komala Pillay has been the Wernher and Beit Chair and Head of the Division of Anatomical Pathology at the University of Cape Town (UCT), the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS), Groote Schuur Hospital (GSH) and the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital (RCWMCH) since January 2020. In July 2022, she was appointed as the Head of the Department of Pathology at UCT/NHLS, comprising eight divisions. Professor Pillay qualified as a pathologist in 2004 and has specialist qualifications in South Africa (CMSA) and the United Kingdom (RCPath). In 2005, she began consulting as a pathologist at UCT/NHLS and practised as the only anatomical pathologist at RCWMCH from 2007 to 2019, also contributing significantly to research (Google Scholar h-index = 24) and teaching (undergraduate and postgraduate). She is the Chair of the Anatomical Pathology Expert Committee (APEC) for the NHLS, President of the College of Pathologists of South Africa (CMSA), sub-Saharan country advisor for Royal College of Pathologists (UK), and is on the Ministerial Advisory Committee for the Prevention and Control of Cancer.