Sharon Kleintjes, Ph.D., M.Phil

Professor Kleintjes worked in the Western Cape Province’s Department of Health as a clinical psychologist and then as a programme manager for mental health between 1990 and 2004. From 2004 to 2006, she worked as a research manager in mental health and substance abuse at the Human Sciences Research Council, after which she joined the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health at University of Cape Town as a researcher in mental health policy development (2006-2010) and convener of the Postgraduate Diploma in Addictions Care (2011).

She returned to the Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital in Cape Town, remaining jointly appointed to the Department of Psychiatry & Mental Health at the University of Cape Town as a Senior Lecturer, then Associate Professor, and co-head of the Division of Psychotherapy (2012-2018). In March 2018, she was appointed to the Vera Grover Chair and Professor of Intellectual Disability in the Department of Psychiatry & Mental Health at UCT.

Her research interests include recovery –oriented public mental health policy and service development for people with psychosocial disability and intellectual disability, and promotion of self-advocacy by people with psychosocial and intellectual disability.