Claim OwnershipAwakening Doctor
Subscribed: 4Played: 2
Subscribe
© 2025 Awakening Doctor
Description
The Awakening Doctor podcast explores the personal stories of those who work in the medical and health professions. Each episode aims to highlight the humanity of an individual doctor or healer, and thereby challenge and transform social perceptions of the profession and the individuals who practice it. Join Dr. Maria Christodoulou as she meets with colleagues, leaders, and educators in healthcare to reveal the human side of being a medical professional.
29 Episodes
Reverse
What would the world be like if we understood that each time a patient shares their story, they are inviting us into the sacred ground of their life? What wisdom might we gain from truly listening to those we aim to help? How might we transform our institutions to better serve our communities? For Professor Tasleem Ras, family physician, educator, researcher, and Head of UCT's Department of Family, Community and Emergency Care, these questions lie at the heart of the academic endeavour. In th...
In this episode of Awakening Doctor, we meet Dr Yumna Moosa, a clinician-scientist, mathematician, mother, activist, and truth-teller. Fresh from her PhD graduation, Yumna speaks with striking honesty about navigating motherhood and dealing with the breakdown of her marriage while completing her studies. She reflects on how trauma can disrupt even the most resilient among us, and how the love and support of family and friends helped her to reclaim her vibrant, fiery self. She also recounts ta...
What are the deeper reasons that draw us into the healing professions, and how do they shape the way we practice medicine? In this episode of Awakening Doctor, Dr Angela de Sá – family physician, integral coach, and senior lecturer at UCT's Department of Family, Community, and Emergency Care – reflects on the experiences that have shaped and defined her medical career. From childhood illness and loss, to leading a busy community health centre for 16 years, and the recent pivotal decision to s...
Professor Hennie Botha is a renowned gynaecological oncologist and the Executive Head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Stellenbosch University. A leading clinician, teacher, mentor and researcher, with a particular interest in cervical cancer treatment and prevention. In this episode of Awakening Doctor, Prof Botha joins Dr Maria Christodoulou to reflect on his leadership journey and medical career. From his early clinical years at a small rural hospital in Malawi to leading an academic...
Servant leadership is not a job description; it’s a way of being. One that Professor Beth Engelbrecht has embodied with rare clarity and quiet conviction across more than three decades of public service in South Africa. In this episode of Awakening Doctor, we learn about her extraordinary personal and professional journey from young district surgeon to transformative leader shaping a more ethical and resilient health system. With honesty and humility, Prof. Engelbrecht reflects on the m...
As a child, Dr. Anita Parbhoo waited in the car outside Cape Town’s world-renowned Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital while her father did pre-med ward rounds. Today, she leads that very same hospital as its CEO, and her innovative leadership contributions are setting a benchmark for excellence in child health services nationwide. In this episode of Awakening Doctor, we trace her journey from those early formative moments to becoming a nationally recognised health leader and recipient...
What happens when you walk away from the life everyone expects you to live? In this episode of Awakening Doctor, Dr. Aisha Moolla shares her personal story of walking away from a career in clinical medicine midway through her internship - not because she couldn’t do it, but because she finally surrendered to the truth that she didn’t want to. Now a PhD candidate at the University of Sheffield, Aisha reflects with candid vulnerability on the pressure to pursue a conventional path, the gu...
Is it okay for a doctor to decide that medicine is not the nucleus of their life? In this episode of Awakening Doctor, we sit down with Dr. Hloni Bookholane, author of Becoming a Doctor: Learnings and unlearnings about life and the politics of medicine, to discuss his decision to walk away from clinical medicine shortly after completing his community service - a choice he likens to a difficult but necessary breakup. We explore the transformative moments that defined his relationship to ...
Dr. Rosemary Pitsi is a dedicated young doctor currently working at a tertiary hospital in South Africa's North West province. She is also the founder of Book Buddies, a literacy initiative for underprivileged children, and co-founder of Medtimes, a medical rostering platform designed to streamline scheduling for healthcare workers and institutions. In this episode of Awakening Doctor, we explore her journey of being and becoming a doctor - beyond the long hours and technical expertise to the...
Prof. Nomafrench Mbombo is a distinguished leader with over three decades of experience spanning healthcare, academia, politics, and public service; a woman with an unwavering commitment to social justice, equitable healthcare and the empowerment of marginalised communities. In this episode of Awakening Doctor, we learn about her humble beginnings in Mdantsane township, her thwarted ambitions to go to medical school, and the fortuitous dismissal that led her to study nursing and attain a Mast...
From her achievement as the Miss South Africa runner-up in 2021 to her impactful roles as medical doctor, health advocate and social media influencer, Dr Moratwe Masima is determined to redefine what it means to be a health professional in the 21st century. In this episode of Awakening Doctor, we explore her commitment to living an intentional life, the courage to dream big, and the tension between perfectionism and vulnerability in choosing to define success on your own terms and in th...
In this inspiring episode of Awakening Doctor, senior family physician and MBChB Programme Coordinator at Nelson Mandela University, Professor Elma de Vries, reflects on her journey of growing up in apartheid-era South Africa to becoming a passionate advocate for marginalised communities and a leading champion for gender-affirming care. Drawing on a rich tapestry of personal and professional experiences, Elma provides insights into the systemic challenges of building a new medical scho...
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to endure the sleepless nights and emotional highs and lows of being a doctor? In this episode of the Awakening Doctor podcast, Dr. Danielle Botma offers an intimate glimpse into the life of a junior doctor in South Africa's public healthcare system. Through the lens of her personal story, we’re made aware of the stark contrast between the idealism that drives young students into medical school, and the challenging realities they face in practice. Daniell...
In this episode of Awakening Doctor, we meet Dr Yonela Sanelisiwe Kentane, a young doctor standing at the threshold of her medical career after completing six years of medical school, two years of internship, and one year of community service in South Africa’s public healthcare system. As she navigates the uncertainty of her next steps and reveals the struggle to balance personal life with professional ambitions, Yonela speaks candidly about the physical exhaustion and emotional vulnera...
Is it possible to be a full human being when your profession demands so much of you? Does being a clinician require you to be removed from your patient’s experience, or from your own experience as you witness theirs? What is it that we need to protect in medicine? These are the questions that Dr Nabeela Kajee, medical doctor, writer, thinker, poet and Rhodes scholar, grapples with as she navigates the hallowed halls of academia. In this episode of Awakening Doctor, we delve into her experienc...
What distinguishes a 21st-century paediatrician working in a resource-constrained setting from his predecessors? This is the question at the heart of Professor Regan Solomon’s leadership vision and one that he unassumingly answers with his own presence and way of being in the world. A highly esteemed Paediatric Neurologist and the Executive Head of Paediatrics and Child Health at Tygerberg Hospital and Stellenbosch University, Professor Solomons is deeply committed to challenging the status q...
In considering the landscape of modern healthcare, the conversation often centres around technological advancements, groundbreaking treatments, and cutting-edge research. In this episode of Awakening Doctor, Professor Hoffie Conradie, Emeritus Professor of Family Medicine and dedicated life coach and mentor, reminds us that the heart of medicine lies in relationships and continuity of care. As we navigate his lifelong commitment to rural family medicine and unravel the many different threads ...
If you’ve ever felt like a square peg in a round-hole world, especially within the hallowed halls of medicine, then this episode of Awakening Doctor is for you. Dr. Gianna Brummer, a medical doctor with extensive psychotherapeutic training, shares her personal story of reclaiming body, mind, and soul, within medical practice. Together, we explore the evolution of her career from the confines of conventional medicine to an intuitive, soul-based coaching approach, and reflect on the value of se...
Dr. Nondumiso Makhunga-Stevenson is a medical doctor, clinical epidemiologist and physician coach whose story weaves together threads of traditional wisdom, social justice, and cutting-edge medical practice. In this episode of Awakening Doctor, we explore the many contrasts that have defined her professional career, the legacy that shapes her holistic approach to patient care, and her deep conviction that equitable healthcare is a right, not a privilege, no matter the setting or the co...
The late Professor Lynette Denny was one of medicine’s foremost trailblazers in the field of cervical cancer research. A world-renowned gynaecological oncologist, distinguished scientist, and passionate advocate for women’s health issues around the globe. In this episode of Awakening Doctor, recorded a few weeks before her passing, Lyn talked candidly about her lifetime of public service in South Africa, her unwavering dedication to her patients, and her own experience of living with advanced...
Comments
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States