Koleka Mlisana

Chief Executive Officer, NHLS

Koleka Mlisana is Chief Executive Officer of NHLS, in the role since 2024.

The National Health Laboratory Service is the state diagnostic pathology service, formed in 2001 from the South African Institute for Medical Research and other bodies. A cyber attack in June 2024 took out its ICT systems and left it short of about a quarter of its annual targets.

In the job

  1. The NHLS elevated cyber attacks to a top organisational risk after the June 2024 phishing attack disabled its ICT systems. Source

  2. The NHLS launched a dashboard giving a near-real-time national view of diabetes control from laboratory data. Source

  3. The NHLS appointed new independent members to its board's Audit and Risk Committee and Information Technology Governance Committee. Source

Career before

  1. Head of Medical Microbiology, University of KwaZulu-Natal and NHLS
  2. 2018-2024Executive Manager of Academic Affairs, Research and Quality Assurance, NHLS

Education

MBChB, MMedPath (Microbiology) and PhD, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Sources

  1. pressportal.co.za
  2. medicalbrief.co.za
  3. en.wikipedia.org
  4. newframe.com
  5. medicalbrief.co.za

Facts last checked 3 November 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.

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