Dr Phale Phillemon Machacha, 35

Dr Phale Phillemon Machacha, 35

Dr Phale Phillemon Machacha grew up as a sickly child. The lack of doctors in his hometown of Burgersfort in Limpopo meant that no one could detect what was wrong with him. He was later diagnosed with hydronephrosis, the swelling of a kidney because of a build-up of...
Dr Cosnet Lerato Rametse, 28

Dr Cosnet Lerato Rametse, 28

Dr Cosnet Lerato Rametse is a clinician scientist and PhD candidate at the University of Cape Town. During her studies, she had found that content was mostly founded on data derived from first-world populations, and that there was a lack of room to explore the content...
Phumudzo Ndwambi, 33

Phumudzo Ndwambi, 33

Dr Phumudzo Ndwambi marvels at how women surgeons are taking up space with sheer force and doing a great job in a field that has long been conceived as a space in which men lead. She continues to thrive in the male-dominated field; this is evident in the leadership...
Huzaifah Khan, 30

Huzaifah Khan, 30

“With my work in vaccination, I would want to remove the doubts and misconceptions that lead to vaccine hesitancy,” said Huzaifah Khan. The 30-year-old pharmacy manager is currently pursuing a master’s in public health pharmacy and management, and is passionate about...
Zainab Kader, 29

Zainab Kader, 29

Zainab Kader’s proudest moment says a lot about who she is. She was working in an impoverished area helping children with externalising behaviour such as aggression and focusing on family intervention. She had worked with fathers but soon realised that mothers were...