Professor Gugu Mchunu is an Executive Dean in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Durban University of Technology (DUT), in South Africa, a position she assumed on the 1st of June 2021. Prior to that she was the Head of the Nursing Discipline at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), School of Nursing and Public Health (College of Health Sciences). She has previously worked as the Executive Director of the Durban Chamber Foundation (part of Durban Chamber of Commerce), and as a Senior Research Specialist and a Post Doctoral Fellow at the Human Research Council (HSRC).  Between 2015 and 2021 she was the Deputy Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Midwifery at UKZN School of Nursing.

She is a Nurse and a Midwife, and holds a Bachelor of Social Science in Nursing, Masters in Nursing and a PhD in Nursing with more than 25 years’ experience in the academic sector, with the following nursing specialization  - (a) Policy guidelines development, (b) Community Health Nursing (c) Nursing Education and Management (d) Primary Care (e) Occupational Health (f) Project Monitoring and Evaluation.

Prof Mchunu is an International Ford Foundation Alumna, was a visiting Research Scholar at the Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, USA.

She has worked as an Occupational Health Nurse Manager at the PPC Lime division, and this is where she developed an interest in employee health and wellness. Her research focus area is on Health Promotion in the Workplace/Workplace Wellness. This has resulted in her working on various projects that explore health promotion in diverse work settings as defined by WHO  “ The place or social context where people engage in daily activities, in which environmental, organizational and personal factors interact to affect health and wellbeing”. 

Prof Mchunu’s research mainly focuses on health promotion in the transport industry and is well known for her work where she explores various health issues in the Minibus Taxi industry, as a workplace. She is a Principal investigator (PI) in a number of public health projects focusing on the Transport industry. This includes health and safety, non- communicable diseases, sustainable food security, marginalized communities, Gender Based Violence and women’s health in the transport industry. She was recently nominated as the Guest Editor for the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH)  for the special Issue titled 'Occupational Health Nursing in Diverse Settings' to be published in 2026.

Prof Mchunu is the co-founding member of Action in Autism – a South African based (KwaZulu-Natal) Non-Profit Organization, established to advocate for people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). She has held a few positions in this organization, and is currently the Chairman of the SHAHUMNA center, which is a protected skills workshop for adults with ASD. 

 She is currently a member of various organizations such as:  

• A Board member at The Heart and Stroke Foundation of South Africa (HSFSA) 

• A Chairperson of the Board of Directors for Action in Autism SHAHUMNA Centre 

• Panelist member at the GreenFlag Association  

• An Honorary Professor – UKZN School of Nursing and Public Health 

• Member of African Forum for Research and Education in Health (AFREhealth)  

• Member of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) - Research and Education Committees

• Member of the International Collaboration for Community Health Nursing Research

• Member of the South African Committee of Health Sciences Deans (SACOHD) 

• Member of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing