Assoc. Prof. Palesa Motshabi Chakane is the Head of Anaesthesia at the School of Clinical Medicine, University of the Witwatersrand. She holds a PhD in Cardiac Anaesthesia from the University of the Witwatersrand and is the Past President of the Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anaesthesia Society of Southern Africa (CASSA). She serves on the International Committee of the Society of Cardiovascular Anaesthesiologists (SCA). She is the Founder of the CASSA Joint Perioperative Cardiothoracic and Vascular Congress. She has chaired the 19th International Congress of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anaesthesia - CASSA - JPC Congress in 2023 and was Scientific Program Chair of the All Africa Congress in 2024. 

She is a regular speaker at national and international cardiothoracic congresses. She collaborates nationally and internationally and has long-standing collaborations internationally. She is a recipient of the 2021 Female Academic Leadership Fellowship (FALF), the winner of the prestigious FALF Research Award in 2022, and the 2023 FALF Academic Leadership Award. She has also received a Clinical Leadership Award from the Clinix Group and Clinician Scientists Society. She is keen researcher with a special interest in perioperative outcomes in general pediatric, pediatric congenital, cardiothoracic and vascular anesthesia