Professor André Coetzee, head of the Department Anaesthesiology and Critical Care, received his DSc degree this week. This is his fourth doctorate, making him the fifth person at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences to achieve this milestone.
What makes the event even more special is that his daughter, Carien, received her PhD on the same day. Her doctorate is in oenology research on Sauvignon Blanc wine.
Prof Coetzee's clinical interest is adult critical care and anesthesia for heart and lung surgical procedures, and his DSc degree is based on a thesis entitled: "Global and regional myocardial and circulatory function during anesthesia in the normal heart and in the presence of imminent or overt myocardial ischemia". It evaluates articles published in various international first-class and peer-reviewed journals that focus on global and regional heart function, circulation in the normal heart, and the hearts subjected to ischemia during anesthesia in the intensive care unit.
"Professor Coetzee was at the forefront of cardiovascular research and often ahead of his time," his supervisor, Professor Johan Coetzee, said. "The insights and knowledge gained from his research was often applied directly into practice, with better results. His research brought him international recognition as a cardiovascular scientist and clinician."
Prof Coetzee 's qualifications include an MB,ChB, MMed (Anes), two PhDs, one MD (US) and professional specialist qualifications FFA (SA) Subspecialty: Critical Care and FFARCS. The DSc degree is Prof Coetzee's fourth doctorate (the MD is the US equivalent to a PhD in SA). He is also the author of four books, 117 national and international published articles and 162 contributions to national and international conferences. He has received 20 national and international awards in recognition of research contributions and has been a finalist in the Rector's Awards for outstanding lecturer twice.
He has managed his own laboratory at Stellenbosch University since 1984, where he conducts research on myocardial contractility, metabolism, and coronary artery and heart regional function normal and ischemic hearts. His work has delivered important international contributions, including evidence that inhalation anesthesia modulates the reperfusion injury of the heart, oxygenation of cardioplegia during heart surgery, quantification of miocardial suppression associated with anesthesia and the pathophysiology and management of acute pulmonary hypertension and right heart failure in patients with acute lung injury.
His wife, Suzanne, is an anesthetist with a PhD. Their eldest daughter Louise, has a MB,ChB from SU and currently practices at Rawsonville. Another daughter, Jani has a master's degree in education (also from US) with the emphasis on learning support, and Carien will receive her PhD on the same day as Prof Coetzee. His youngest daughter, Zoë, is currently in 8th grade and has acquired many national and local prizes for piano and violin, and was amongst others the orchestra leader of the Hugo Lamprechts junior string orchestra in grade 7.
Prof Coetzee's extracurricular interests include flying - he has a private pilot's license - he reads a lot of books on philosophy, politics and the structure and function of tertiary institutions, and he also owns part of a farm in Namibia.
Photo: Prof André Coetzee (left) and Dr Carien Coetzee
