Patience Mthunzi-Kufa

As lead for biophotonics research at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Mthunzi users high power lasers to characterise and treat disease.^{[citation needed]} She uses lasers to optically manipulate cells at the microscopic scale, including:^[2]

• Embryonic stem cells for tissue engineering^[8]
• Neuroblastoma cells for neurodegenerative studies
• HIV-1 cells for targeted drug delivery in latent viral sites
• Cancer cells to study single cell processes

She visited Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology to discuss Biomedical Applications of Lasers in Biophotonics in 2013.^[9][10]

In 2015, Mthunzi was appointed a TED Fellow.^[11] Her TED talk, Could we cure HIV with lasers?, has been viewed over one million times.^[12] She used the opportunity to discuss wish to translate her research from petri dishes to human testing.^[13][14] Her talk was well received by the audience in Vancouver and scientists all over the world.^[15][16][17]

Mthunzi is concerned about the brain drain of African scientists out of South Africa.^[18][5] In 2014 she spoke at Girlpower UNISA.^[19] In 2016 she appeared on SABC 2 Visionaries' Lounge.^[20] She has also appeared on Moves and Shakers.^[21] She was featured on CNBC Africa.^[22] She is a contributor to Talking Heads, an African speakers platform for change-makers.^[23]

Mthunzi is co-chair of the South African Young Academy of Science.^[24][25] She is helping the Young African Scientists in Europe (YASE) with their 2018 meeting, dedicated to African early career researchers.^[26]

In 2022, Dr. Mthunzi-Kufa was appointed as the Deputy Chairperson of the Advisory Council on National Orders by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.^[27]

2011 - Selected to participate in the IAP/World Economic Forum's Summer Davos conference in Dalian, China^[2]

2012 – Order of Mapungubwe in Bronze, awarded by Jacob Zuma^[28][29]

2012 – SPIE One to Watch^[30]

2012 – Forbes magazine Ten youngest power women in Africa^[31][32][33]

2012 – South Africa's Most Influential Women^[34]

2014 – Plenary speaker at the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics International Conference for Women in Physics^[35]

2014 – Selected to the Global Young Academy

2014 – Emerging Leader at Genentech, San Francisco

2017 – Selected to attend BRICS Young Scientist Forum in China, Zhejiang University^[36]