Researcher profile

Cherie Ann Kruger

My name is Dr Cherie Ann Kruger (PhD: Biomedical Technology, NRY Y2 rated) and from 2021 to current I have been employed at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) in the Complementary Medicine Department. I am a full-time academic researcher, and senior lecturer, in addition to being responsible as a coordinator and manager for the Complementary Medicine Research Facilities (CMRF), as well as serve as the DRC department postgraduate coordinator & representative chair. I have been working at the UJ for the last 17 and a half years, as a lecturer, within different departments, while completing my postgraduate studies and working as a full-time researcher. My current research interest lies extensively within Alternative, African Traditional, Herbal, and Complementary Medicine plant preparations and secondary bioactive extracts for the effective treatment of various cancers and microbial diseases which exhibit antimicrobial resistance to conventional medications, to promote global holistic health. With my research studies I have always been a visionary leader to allow for innovative research with a specialized focus, including a supervisory leadership form of transformational and participative styles which empower independent free thinking postgraduate students to produce internationally recognized research outputs. To date from my various research studies, I have graduated 12 BHSc honors, 15 Masters’ (9 cum laude), 1 Doctorate student, as well as supervised 3 Internships and 1 Post-Doctoral fellow to completion. I am currently supervising an additional 3 Doctoral candidates, 8 Masters’ students, as well as 1 research assistant who are currently studying towards completing their postgraduate degrees. I currently hold an impressive Scopus H-index of 17 (with 1781 citations and averages 36.4 citations per a publication), as well as a Google Scholar H-index of 17 with 2354 citations. According to my AD Scientific World Ranking Index for 2024, I am currently globally ranked within the Natural Sciences category in the top 52% of researchers and in the Physics category (with specialization in Microbiology, Complementary Medicine, Antimicrobial Resistance, Cancer, and Photodynamic Therapy) in the top 59% of researchers. Moreover, my H-index of weighting research contributions in these fields graded me within the top 39% percentile of international globally ranked scientists. To date I have published 2 book chapters, 4 conference proceedings and 23 journal publications in internationally accredited Scopus and ISI journals. To enhance public awareness of my research excellence and innovation, over my years of research, I have attended, been invited as a plenary keynote, spoken, and had my research findings presented at 19 national and 8 international conferences. Furthermore, I have presented in various media engagement activities in the form of radio interviews and public lectures, contributing to extending the reach of my research within the public fora. Moreover, through research excellence, I have collaborated in research projects with other departments at the UJ and outside the University, to promote national research association and community engagement. Furthermore, I serve as current member or the Society of Medical Laboratory Technology of South Africa (SMLTSA). I am an internationally recognized guest editor for 3 journals, and I serve as an external reviewer for 16 journals and NRF rating panels. Lastly, I have successfully externally examined 10 Masters’ postgraduate students, as well as have actively participated as a UJ Higher Degrees and Research Ethics Committees board member since 2019. This year I was successfully awarded my NRF Y2 rating (2023), benchmarking the quality of my research and impact worldwide. In 2019, I received the esteemed UJ Vice Chancellor’s Distinguished Award for Most Promising Researcher. To date I have been a principal investigator, as well as a study coordinator on 4 previous research grant funded studies which were awarded to me, namely, the international CANSA grant (2019-2021) and 3 other local grants: WRC (2014-2016), NRF Thuthuka (2019-2020) and NRF Competitive Support Funding for Rated and Unrated Researchers (CSUR) Funding (2022-2024), all of which have allowed me to pursue my research field of specialization. Furthermore, I received the 2017 UJ Faculty of Health Sciences outstanding achievement award for my doctoral studies and in 2013 I received the Faculty of Health Sciences Best Overall Performing Masters’ Student award.