Dr JM Mthethwa is the Chief Director of Non-Communicable Diseases and Public Health at the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Department of Public Health, Pietermaritzburg. He is also the Director of the KZN Department of Health Oral Health Services, and the Chairman of the Durban University of Technology Dental Advisory Board. He achieved his Bachelor of Dental Surgery from the Medical University Of Southern Africa, gaining an MPH from the University of Nottingham and an MBA in Health Executive Management from the University of Keele. He is currently studying for a PhD in oral health epidemiology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal School of Nursing and Public Health.