SAWISA 2026 Finalists

Prof. Faheema Mahomed-Asmail is a finalist in the Distinguished Young Women: Humanities and Social Sciences category. She is Full Professor of Audiology in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology at the University of Pretoria (UP), where she serves as Co-Director of the Audiology Clinic and Chair of the Continuing Professional Development Accreditation Committee. She is a council member of the South African Speech-Language-Hearing Association and was nominated to the board of the International Society of Audiology in 2024.

Prof. Mahomed-Asmail is a recognised scholar in hearing healthcare, focused on strengthening systems and skills to improve accessibility and quality of care in underserved populations. Her transdisciplinary research draws on community-driven strategies and telehealth solutions. She founded the EarQ research group in 2024 to amplify her impact through early-career researchers, collaborations and funding. Her work has expanded access to hearing screenings, diagnosis and rehabilitation for children and adults in low-income South African communities previously excluded from specialist care. Her research has informed the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on childhood hearing screening and has featured in the World Hearing Report. 

Prof. Mahomed-Asmail is an NRF Y1-rated researcher and an alumna of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) Future Professors Programme. She is the author of 58 peer-reviewed publications in leading international journals, such as Ear and Hearing, International Journal of Audiology and Global Health Action. She serves as Associate Editor of the International Journal of Audiology and the South African Journal of Communication Disorders and was a Guest Associate Editor for Frontiers in Neuroscience and Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences. Prof. Mahomed-Asmail is an active peer reviewer for The Lancet, Ear and Hearing, and the Journal of Medical Internet Research mHealth and uHealth, and a frequent invited international speaker, including at the World Congress of Audiology (2024 and 2026) and the Hearing Across the Lifespan Conference (2024).

A registered Audiologist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), Prof. Mahomed-Asmail is a member of the International Society of Audiology, the Computational Audiology Network, the Coalition for Global Hearing Health, and the Africa Interprofessional Education Network. Her awards include the UP Faculty of Humanities Teaching Excellence Award, the Exceptional Young Researchers Award, and the Faculty Emerging Researcher Award. She has supervised four PhD and 25 master's students to completion and currently supervises six PhD and five master's students – building the next generation of audiologists committed to equitable, person-centred hearing healthcare.