Oral Pathology

The Department of Oral Pathology is part of the School of Oral Health Sciences in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

Its publication record shows research strengths in oral and maxillofacial pathology, salivary gland tumours, fibro-osseous lesions and rare head and neck neoplasms. A further focus is HIV-associated malignancies, particularly plasmablastic lymphoma, alongside molecular work that applies techniques such as FISH and genomic sequencing to tumour classification and diagnostic accuracy.

Related themes include molecular pathology, oncogenic pathways such as JAK-STAT signalling, and head and neck cancer diagnostics. The research is focused on South Africa and the wider African context, linking epidemiology, molecular pathology and clinical relevance.