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Funeka Sokudela is a medical specialist and an academic in forensic and public mental health. She is an adjunct professor of forensic psychiatry, and the Head of Forensic Mental Health at the Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria and Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital, South Africa. She was the head of clinical management at the same department prior to that. She is a Fellow of the Albertina Sisulu Executive Leadership Programme in Health (ASELPH) – a health systems management programme at the University of Pretoria, the University of Fort Hare and the Harvard School of Health Systems and Public Health. She is a member of the South African Society of Psychiatrists (SASOP) and the Africa Global Mental Health Institute. Funeka has served in various portfolios both at academic, provincial and national levels of mental health and recently finished her term as the chairperson at the South African Society for Mental Health and Deafness (SASMHD). She serves as a member of the Faculty of Health Sciences' Transformation Committee and was recently appointed the chairperson of her School of Medicine's Transformation Committee and the Academic Advisory Committee of the same school. Funeka is an avid advocate for diversity training and anti-stigma sensitization in post-apartheid South Africa and mental health. She is passionate about improving access to good quality health care, especially mental health services. She holds a medical degree (MBBCh) from the University of Witwatersrand; a masters in medicine degree in psychiatry (MMed Psychiatry), a postgraduate diploma in health systems management (PDHSM) and a doctor of philosophy degree (PhD) in psychiatry from the University of Pretoria. She is a member of the eleventh class of the Africa Leadership Initiative - South Africa Fellows and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.