Soraya Seedat is a Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Executive Head of the Department of Psychiatry at Stellenbosch University. She holds the South African Research Chair in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and directs the South African Medical Research Council Unit on the Genomics of Brain Disorders. She has more than 20 years of clinical, epidemiological and basic neuroscience research experience as a psychiatrist working in the field of traumatic stress and anxiety and has published over 500 peer-reviewed journal manuscripts and co-edited four books. She has served 2 terms as the President of the College of Psychiatrists of South Africa and 3 terms as Secretary and is currently a member of the Board of Directors and an Honorary Registrar of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa. She is also a Board Member of the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies.