Aspro Shabnum Meer

Shabnum Meer is an Associate Professor and Head of the Clinical Unit in the Department of Oral Pathology at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Her academic and diagnostic work is closely aligned with anatomical pathology, reflecting a commitment to integrating oral pathology within broader medical disciplines in South Africa’s high HIV-prevalence setting.

Her research centers on HIV-associated oral and maxillofacial disease, with particular emphasis on plasmablastic lymphoma, head and neck lymphomas, and salivary gland pathology. Through detailed histopathological, immunohistochemical, and genomic investigations, her work has clarified the clinicopathologic spectrum of plasmablastic lymphoma and highlighted key molecular pathways involved in its pathogenesis.

Additional contributions include studies on minor salivary gland tumors, HIV-related cystic lymphoid hyperplasia, Kaposi sarcoma with secondary infections, and rare oral neoplasms. Her scholarship provides important epidemiologic and diagnostic insights from South Africa, strengthening understanding of infection-driven malignancies and informing diagnostic practice in resource-constrained, high-burden contexts.