Dr Jessica Puglia grew up in Cape Town and graduated from UCT with her MBChB. She completed her internship at Groote Schuur Hospital and community service at Vanguard Day Hospital where she ran the INR clinic. Jessica loves treating people of all ages and really enjoys getting to know the entire family. She believes that each patient is unique and deserves individualised treatment. Investigating the root cause of her patients’ symptoms is something that she prioritises. When Jessica is not helping patients, she enjoys spending her time with her husband, family and friends. She also has a passion for pottery and dancing.

Dr Neil Kruger is a specialist Hand and Upper Limb orthopaedic surgeon based in Cape Town. Having studied or practiced medicine for more than two decades, he has developed a special interest in carpal tunnel syndrome, wrist instabilities and fractures (scaphoid), and degenerative wrist conditions. Dr Kruger completed his training in the University of Cape Town orthopaedic training program, working across Groote Schuur, Red Cross Children’s, Maitland Cottage and other satellite hospitals in the Cape. He graduated with distinction and was awarded the J.M Edelstein medal as the top candidate in South Africa. He then completed a one-year Hand and Upper Limb fellowship under the training of internationally renowned Professor Greg Bain, in Adelaide, Australia. Prior to specialising in orthopaedic surgery, Dr Kruger completed several years of orthopaedic medical officer work across multiple centres in South Africa and overseas. He completed a Masters degree in Diagnostic Imaging and a Masters degree in Orthopaedic Surgery as a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford. Dr Kruger’s research has been published in international journals. He continues to contribute to the field of Hand and Upper Limb Surgery through teaching and research, publishing on hand, wrist, elbow and shoulder conditions. Dr Kruger is a senior lecturer in the Orthopaedic Department at the University of Cape Town and devotes one day a week in public practice, covering Red Cross Children’s and Maitland Cottage hospitals.

Prof Carol Hlela is one of two paediatric dermatologists in the country, championing as a leading specialist in baby and child skincare. Her mission is to reduce skin conditions in babies and children, and become the voice in paediatric dermatology in Africa. She is passionate about educating patients, medical professionals and medical corporations about innovative and simple skin solutions, through her research and campaigns. Born and bred in KwaMashu near Durban, she was the first recipient of Netcare’s Hamilton Naki Clinical Scholarship in 2007, which enabled her to complete a PhD in Clinical Medicine at Oxford University, UK. Her ongoing research into the human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) has made her South Africa’s leading expert on the virus, as well as a highly-regarded contributor to the international body of knowledge developing around it. Currently heading the Paediatric Dermatology Unit at Red Cross Children Hospital, she is also employed by University of Cape Town, where she teaches medical students, supervising PhD candidates. She has worked at Groote Schuur Hospital (CT) as well as King Edward Hospital (KZN), as a Dermatology Consultant (Skin Specialist). While studying towards her PhD, Prof Hlela focused mainly on children because of her interest in HTLV-1. She attained her Masters and a PhD from Oxford University, UK. Upon her return to South Africa, in 2012 she was encouraged to stay in paediatrics and, because she regarded it as a means to an end at the time, she obliged. “Yet again, though, I ended up loving what I do and I can’t imagine myself doing anything else.” Her clinical research career is ongoing, including being part of national and international research collaborations, conducting various clinical research drug trials. Research, and the power it gives, remains Prof Hlela’s passion.

Dr. Luzuko Magula was born and raised in the humbling town of Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, the middle of three children to wonderful God-fearing parents. He attended Walter Sisulu University in Mthatha where he earned his medical degree. Having completed his internship at the East London Health Complex in East London, he further worked at psychiatric hospitals in Fort Beaufort and Port Elizabeth where his love and passion for mental health was established and grew stronger. He completed his Fellowship in Psychiatry with Stellenbosch University where he also graduated his Master of Medicine in Psychiatry degree. In the current times of great challenges both within and outside of an individual, Luzuko specialises in the maintenance of mental health among individuals of all ages, ethnicity, profession and social standing. Should ones mental health status change and be at risk, his expertise are spread in a vast array of areas within the field including neurodevelopmental disorders (ADHD, Tourette’s Disorder), psychotic disorders (schizophrenia), mood disorders (bipolar and depressive disorders), anxiety disorders, O.C.D., P.T.S.D., and sleeping disorders amongst others. The management of each individual is tailored according to their specific needs within the field’s practice parameters and includes both pharmacological and therapeutic interventions. Luzuko has also obtained his Diploma in Mental Health from The Colleges of Psychiatry and was the elected two terms serving chief registrar during his training with Stellenbosch University. He continues to impart knowledge and leadership skills to undergraduate and postgraduate students rotating through the Department of Psychiatry at Stellenbosch University where he is currently pursuing his Fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and a Master of Philosophy degree in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He forms part of the multidisciplinary team that assesses and manages the mental health and wellness of children and adolescent and their families at Tygerberg Hospital and endeavours daily in the mastery of conditions that affect and influence the mental health status and well-being of our future generation. Having attended annual biological psychiatry congresses in Cape Town, Somerset West and Pretoria where he has presented his research paper on iron deficiency in children and adolescents with ADHD, Luzuko remains a passionate academic as he continues to pursue research. He is currently involved in a study that explores the lived experiences of adolescents admitted into a psychiatric facility for the first episode of psychosis. Although well-grounded in knowledge and expertise in the field of general psychiatry, his main interest is in working with children, adolescents, their families and their environments as a whole in ensuring holistically healthy young minds that will shape the future of our world. Luzuko lives in the northern suburbs of Cape Town and to maintain his personal mental health and keeping in good shape, you may bump into him at your local spinning class or find him blasting through the wind as he explores cycling trails of the beautiful Western Cape.

Corina graduated from UCT in 1997 with a B.Sc.Physiotherapy, and joined the brain-drain to the UK where she became involved in pelvic health. She returned to South Africa after completing a post graduate qualification in Women’s Health, and has been based at the Kingsbury Hospital ever since. In 2016 she completed her Masters in Physiotherapy through Stellenbosch University with original research into pelvic floor muscle function during gait. She sees all pelvic patients – Women’s Health, Men’s Health and paediatric bladder bowel dysfunction. The majority of her caseload involves chronic pain with multiple co-morbidity – everything going wrong all at once. Special interests include anxiety and its impact on function, and anything to do with gait (human locomotion). She was a founding member of the Pelvic and Women’s Health Physiotherapy Group post graduate training courses, and lectures extensively both nationally and internationally.

Dr Anisa Vahed graduated from Stellenbosch University in 2009. She completed her internship and community service in Frere Hospital Complex in the Eastern Cape, where she grew up. It was during her Community Service when she realized that child health was her calling and completed her Diploma in Child Health. She then moved back to Cape Town in 2013 with the aim to gain more paediatric experience. It was while working at District level as well as Tertiary level paediatrics that she gained confidence in managing children and their acute and chronic conditions, after-which she decided to specialize. Dr Anisa Vahed completed her specialization in Paediatrics & Child Health in 2019 with University of Cape Town where she spent most her time working in Red Cross Children’s Hospital, as well as Groote Schuur Hospital Neonatal Unit and New Somerset Hospital. Dr Anisa Vahed is also a mother to a very adventurous toddler and understands from a mothers perspective all the struggles a mother goes through with a newborn baby and toddler. She hopes that by joining the Nurturey team she will be able to combine her personal experience of motherhood and her expertise in child healthcare to assist parents with any concerns or questions they may have.

Dr Samke Nyamathe is a general medical practitioner. She conducted her undergraduate studies at the University of Cape Town and subsequently studied a Diploma in Public Health during her internship and community service years. She is currently completing her thesis towards a Masters in Child Health at the University of the Witswatersrand. She completed her internship and community service time in Johannesburg. She then worked as an assistant general practitioner for a GP in Johannesburg. She moved to Cape Town to work with an NGO that specifically focuses on paediatric HIV and paediatric neurodevelopment and also further explored her private work as a GP through a locum agency and while working for a GP in Mitchells Plain. She enjoys the ability to form relationships with her patients and practicing medicine affords the ability to be a source of compassion and empathy for those who need it.

Dr Simon de Jager hails originally from KwaZulu Natal. He completed his undergraduate training at Pretoria University in 2006. He then moved on to complete his two-year internship in the Pietermaritzberg Hospitals Complex in KwaZulu Natal, followed by his community service year in Kimberly Hospital in the Northern Cape.

Dr de Jager has a passion for urology that stems from his introduction to the field during his undergraduate training in Pretoria and, continued right though his internship and community service years where he would always elect for further exposure to this surgical discipline when given the opportunity.

His gravitation towards urology eventually lead him to the steps of Table Mountain where he was accepted into the University of Cape Town’s urology specialist training programme in 2013. With stringent requirements for acceptance, he spent several years and a couple of major exams in general surgery prior to this honour. He finished his specialist training at Groote Schuur Hospital in 2018 and chose to stay on longer with the faculty to further hone his surgical expertise until January 2020.

To this day he enjoys continued association with the UCT department of urology, where he lectures trainees, as well as government medicine, where he heads the Urology Departments at Eerste River Hospital and provides a urology consultant service to Western Cape Rehabilitation Centre. This continued commitment to the state steams from his desire to provide quality and cost-effective urological services to those who need it most.

When not working in state he makes himself available to run a modest private urology practice where his patients may benefit from his continued exposure to academia.