Awakening Doctor
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.
Episodes
35 episodes
Dr Wonderful Thabiso Khumalo, A Young Man from Katlehong
What are the odds that a young man from Sluma View, Katlehong, will find himself at Oxford University?Whatever they are, Dr Wonderful Thabiso Khumalo, medical doctor, Rhodes scholar, award-winning poet, and emerging global health researc...
Chloe Hope, The End-of-Life Doula
What might change if we allowed ourselves to really be with death? If we turned towards our mortality, rather than away from it?In this episode of Awakening Doctor, host Maria Christodoulou speaks with end-of-life doula, death educator, ...
Sarah Stein, Being a Good Human
Before she even graduates as a doctor, final-year medical student Sarah Stein is already asking questions many doctors avoid.Her widely published article, What They Don’t Teach in Medical School, in which she wrote candidly abou...
Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo, A Girl from Bergville
In this episode of Awakening Doctor, we meet Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo, a medical doctor from Bergville in rural KwaZulu-Natal, whose personal journey into medicine and public health is deeply shaped by community, identity, and purpose.Le...
Dr Bianca Leigh Edwards, The Children's GP
What do you do when the plan you’re committed to doesn’t work out the way you’d hoped, but your sense of purpose stays the same? Dr Bianca Leigh Edwards - or Dr B, as she’s affectionately known by her patients - had her heart ...
Prof Lydia Cairncross, Reclaiming the Feminine
From growing up among political exiles to advocating for the right to health and shaping national policy, Professor Lydia Cairncross's career traces the edges of the operating table and the front lines of social change.Voted one of Mail ...
Prof Tasleem Ras, Leading with Community at Heart
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...
Dr Yumna Moosa, Truth-Teller
In this episode of Awakening Doctor, we meet Dr Yumna Moosa, clinician-scientist, mathematician, mother, activist, and truth-teller.Fresh from her PhD graduation, Yumna speaks with striking honesty about navigating motherhood and dealing...
Dr Angela de Sá, Reclaiming the Humanity in Healthcare
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 lectur...
Prof Hennie Botha, Leading with Humility
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 t...
Prof Beth Engelbrecht, Leading with Grace
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 epis...
Dr Anita Parbhoo, Leading with Heart
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 lead...
Dr Aisha Moolla, Doing Hard Things
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 intern...
Dr Hloni Bookholane, Breaking Up With Medicine
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 po...
Dr Rosemary Pitsi, A Heart for People
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 ...
Prof Nomafrench Mbombo, A Bloody Difficult Woman
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 empowerme...
Dr Moratwe Masima, A Driven Dreamer
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 ...
Prof Elma de Vries, Doing What Her Hands Find To Do
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 pass...
Dr Danielle Botma, A Junior Doctor
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 Awakening Doctor, Dr. Danielle Botma offers an intimate glimpse into the life of a junior doctor in South Af...
Dr Yonela Sanelisiwe Kentane, A Stellenbosch 'Dokter'
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 i...
Dr Nabeela Kajee, Walking Through Places of Privilege
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 ...
Prof Regan Solomons, Shaping the Future of Paediatric Healthcare
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 ...
Prof Hoffie Conradie, Navigating the Continuum of Care
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 ...
Dr Gianna Brummer, Reclaiming the Soul in Medicine
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, sha...
Dr Nondumiso Makhunga-Stevenson, Redefining the Narrative of a Medical Career
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 Awak...
