Born 16/07/2020 in Kokstad, South Africa. Dr Bester is currently living in Bloemfontein. He is married to Jeannette and there are 5 children (Dirk-Wouter, Loraine, Gretha, Jeanné, Jolene).  He matriculated at Paul Erasmus Secondary School, Senekal (Eastern Free State, Republic of South Africa) in 1979 and received medical degrees - MBChB (UOFS) in 1985 (distinctions in Surgery, Internal medicine and Psychiatry), M.MED (INT, UOFS) in 1993 and FCP (S.A.) in 1993

During university training he served on the medical student representative council, student representative council, and was chairman of the student community service organization. He received the MER national bursary in 1984 and the university’s DUX Student award in 1985.

Dr Bester worked as Intern and Medical (and research) Officer at Pelonomi and Universitas Hospitals with the Department of Internal Medicine. During this time involved with Epidemiological research amongst Elderly Blacks. He was also instrumental in the development of many elderly care services in Bloemfontein. Special academic interests are Geriatrics, Gastro-enterology, Rheumatology, Pulmonology and Cardiology. Hobbies: Computers, aviation (PPL), cycling, music, stock exchange, Paintball, Bonsmara cattle. He also obtained extensive knowledge on Emotional intelligence and held several workshops for corporate groups on this subject.

Started specializing in Internal Medicine in 1990 at Free State University and successfully completed M.MED and FCP examinations during 1993. Registered as Specialist Physician January 1994. Currently in private practice and part-time consultant at the medical school in Bloemfontein. He was the honorary president-elect of the local branch of South African Medical Association twice and serve on the EXCO of SAMA for the last 10 years. He also served on several advisory bodies for pharmaceutical companies during the last 15 years and also is an EXCO member of the Faculty of Consulting Physicians of South Africa (FCPSA). During 2012 he was invited to serve on the Strategic Advisory Committee of the MRC Medical Device Innovation Platform. In this positions Dr Bester obtained extensive experience in the field of health and health economics.

During the last 10 years he worked on several medical devices and solutions in health care to improve health care services in the world. He currently is in private practice and also does Clinical trials on new drugs.

He has traveled widely through the world to broaden professional knowledge, and to present papers. Has 12 scientific papers to his credit and did numerous formal presentations on basic research findings. During 2004 contributed to a book on the pathological effects of psychological trauma.

He was listed in 1998 in “Who’s who in the world” (15th edition).