Ruth Lancaster works as a Pharmaceutical Policy Specialist at the South African National Department of Health under the Affordable Medicines Directorate. She works within the Essential Drugs Programme, through which essential medicines are selected and monitored. She is currently a member of the secretariat for the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance, and the Third Line ART Peer Review Committee.

She studied for her pharmacy degree at Rhodes University and continued with a postgraduate degree in clinical pharmacy at the same institution. After completing these studies, she worked as a clinical pharmacist within a private hospital before moving to work with the Department at the end of 2015.