Adj Michelle Wong

Michelle Wong is a South African clinician-researcher in pulmonary and critical care medicine whose work centres on infectious and inflammatory lung disease in high-burden settings. Her scholarship spans community-acquired pneumonia, interstitial lung disease, pulmonary embolism diagnostics, and post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, with sustained engagement in national thoracic society initiatives and clinically grounded research.

Recent leadership in a large multicentre cohort study on adult community-acquired pneumonia in the context of widespread vaccination and HIV treatment rollout highlights a focus on disease burden, outcomes, and health systems impact. Complementary studies examine pulmonary manifestations of idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease, and tuberculosis risk under immunosuppression, strengthening regional evidence in underrepresented populations.

Additional contributions address clinician interpretation of ventilation/perfusion scans, severe asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and chronic respiratory symptoms, reflecting an interest in improving diagnostic accuracy and guideline-informed care. Collectively, this body of work advances understanding of lung disease epidemiology and management in Africa, with particular attention to infection, autoimmunity, and health service delivery.