Dr Tamryn Frank joined the SOPH in 2018, and is a Senior Lecturer working in the field of promoting healthy food environments.

She co-teaches the MPH Primary Health Care module (Population Health and Development: A Primary Health Care Approach II / SPH855), as well as the MPH Health Policy Analysis (SPH 851) elective. She is a registered dietitian; and holds a PhD in Public Health from UWC, and a master’s degree in nutrition, human rights and governance from Stellenbosch University (in collaboration with Makerere University in Uganda and Oslo University in Norway). She spent 2022 as a visiting scholar at the University of North Carolina’s Global Food Research Program in the USA. Before branching out into academia, Tamryn worked as a primary health care dietitian for eight years for the South African Department of Health, both in the Eastern and Western Cape.

As a researcher, Tamryn works with a variety of different stakeholders, such as government, researchers, civil society, advocates, and community members, and appreciates the importance of transdisciplinary approaches to health system strengthening. Her current work involves a focus on understanding the drivers behind dietary intake patterns and ultra-processed product intake, and policies that promote a healthier food environment (such as marketing restrictions, sugary beverage taxes, and front-of-package labelling). She has served as a member of the Technical Task Team advising the South African National Department of Health on nutrient profiling models and front-of-package Labelling. This project has culminated with the publication of Draft Regulation R3337 “Relating to the Labelling and Advertising of Foodstuffs”. As a result of this work, she has been invited in the capacity as expert to provide guidance to researchers and/or government in a number of African countries including Ghana, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Namibia, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho and Comoros. Additionally, Tamryn serves as a steering committee member of the DSTI-NRF Centre of Excellence in HIV Prevention hosted by Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA).