Jeannine Heckmann is a professor of neurology at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and Groote Schuur Hospital, located in Cape Town, South Africa. She heads the neurology research group in the UCT Neurosciences Institute, with a research focus on neuromuscular diseases in Africans particularly Myasthenia Gravis, Motor neuron disease/Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and inherited neuromuscular disease. She works closely with the UCT-Neurogenomics lab under the leadership of Dr Melissa Nel. Professor Heckmann collaborates with various international consortia to enable African neuromuscular research and started the ALS-Africa network in 2022 with colleagues from South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.