Dr Mendelson studied Medicine at St. Mary’s Hospital, London, and specialised in Infectious Diseases at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, where he also attained his PhD. He moved to The Rockefeller University, New York in 2001 and subsequently to University of Cape Town to work on tuberculosis and innate immunity. In 2007 he started the first accredited Infectious Diseases Training Centre at University of Cape Town, and in 2011, he co-founded the South African Antibiotic Stewardship Programme, a grass roots advocacy and implementation collective. He co-authored the resulting South African Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Strategic Framework and chaired the South African Ministerial Advisory Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance from its inception in 2014 until 2023.
Dr Mendelson is involved with multiple international partners on AMR and his focus is now on developing international policy to mitigate AMR.