Matthew Francis Chersich, a medical doctor and epidemiologist by training, is a Research Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa and a Visiting Professor at the University of Ghent, Belgium. He has published around 170 papers, with an H index of 46. He holds qualifications from three Universities and the Colleges of Medicine in South Africa and the United Kingdom. He also has an interest in Franciscan Theology and recently spent two years as a visiting student at the Institute of Theology, Assisi, Italy. Aside from research activities, Matthew has made substantial contributions to global health policy, including to WHO guidelines, serving as a guideline writer, lead on systematic reviews, lead methodologist overseeing systematic reviews for guidelines, guideline reviewer and an invited technical expert. He is a contributing author to the Africa chapter of the 6th Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. His technical knowledge is in climate change and he