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.

Lethukwenama reflects on growing up as the only girl in a household of seven children, the early inspiration that drew her to medicine, and the youthful certainty that she would one day be like Cristina Yang or Meredith Grey from Grey’s Anatomy. We explore her decision to study at Stellenbosch University and the challenges of navigating leadership, belonging, and systemic inequities within medical training. 

She also speaks candidly about the realities of clinical work, her choice to complete her training at the rural clinical school, and the moments that led her to question whether medicine alone could address the social realities determining people’s health.

Now a Master’s graduate in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Lethukwenama discusses her commitment to health equity and culturally responsive care, and her passion for creating accessible health education content in isiZulu to counter misinformation and empower communities to take charge of their own health.

Join us for a thoughtful conversation about responsibility, representation, and the evolving identity of doctors in a changing health system.

Follow Dr Letsoalo on Social Media:

Instagram: https://tr.ee/kA9cj4h48m
TikTok: https://tr.ee/DnedT80zIO
Facebook: https://tr.ee/vMC0DCUOQp

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LethukwenamaLetsoalo

Transcript

Meet Dr Letsoalo

Dr Maria Christodoulou 0:00

Welcome. I'm Dr. Maria Christodoulou, and this is the Awakening Doctor podcast, a space where we discover the personal stories of those who work in the medical and health professions. Join me as I explore the hopes, the fears, the aspirations, and the real life challenges of those who carry the title, responsibility, and privilege of being a doctor. Today on Awakening Doctor, I'm joined by Dr. Lethukwenama Letsoalo, a medical doctor from South Africa, who recently completed her Master's in public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Lethukwenama has a particular interest in sexual and reproductive health, digital communication and AI, and creates accessible, culturally sensitive health education content on social media platforms to counter misinformation and empower people to take care of their health. Lethukwenama is currently exploring opportunities to apply her expertise and leadership in global health. Welcome, Lethukwenama. It's wonderful to have you with me today.

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 1:07

Hi, Maria. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited for our conversation. Me too. And I was thinking after we chatted briefly about doing this, you reminded me that we had met years ago at Tygerberg Hospital. And I went searching through my notes to try and find the notes I made at that meeting. And sadly, I did not have those notes anymore. Oh my.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 1:32

Yeah, but I was curious about the synchronicity that had us reconnecting at this point in time and where you are in your particular journey. So perhaps you tell me, where we should begin to tell your story?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 1:47

Well, anywhere really, but I guess home. Home is always a good place to start.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 1:52

Mm-hmm. Where's home?

Growing Up In Bergville

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 1:54

Yeah, I'm home right now, which has been really good for my soul. Uh, home is in the Drakensberg. I'm from Bergville, a very small town in KZN, near the Drakensberg. And that's where I was born and bred. And after, I think from high school onwards, it's just such a small community. When it comes to like the developing stages, you move to high school. We usually move out of town to other places for better schools. And that's when I started exploring. As soon as I left home, I was like, okay, what's out there for me? There's always been that thing, I guess, about where I come from in terms of it is a small rural community. There's always this trajectory or path set for you or in your head, or that you start formulating as a child that, okay, I need to get out of here and do amazing things and then come back home. And then that's really how my journey unfolded as well. But yeah, this is my happy place. This is a place I call home. Anywhere in the world that I travel, everyone will know that I'm from Bergville. And I'm happy to be back here after a year.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 2:52

Tell me about growing up in a small rural community and having those big dreams. Like, how does that happen?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 2:58

I guess for me, I grew up in a family where I was the only girl. I have six brothers. So our household dynamics were very interesting. And my mom was a teacher, my dad was an electrician and plumber. And we always had to do better than them, you know. So that was the mantra in terms of like, you have to do better than us. So I guess those seeds were planted very early. And then you watch a lot of TV. So even like we had a ritual in the morning when you're getting ready for school. There were shows and the news that always came on in the morning. And I would always tell my dad, whenever there was kids' news, I think it was E-TV or SABC 2, one of those. They used to play kids' news for like minutes in the morning before we leave. It was always older people giving kids news. And I was always so frustrated. I was like, I'm a kid. I should be the one doing those kids' news. Not people who are 20, 30 years old. So we started seeing these things and being like, uh uh, I'm the one who's supposed to be doing that. And I guess also role modeling. I think Bergville being a very small community is that you know a lot of people around you, and you know and see and identify people who have made it. And that's just like me too. I also want in. And I think those are the things that really just are part of the things that inspired me as a child.

Choosing Medicine And Media Influence

Dr Maria Christodoulou 4:13

What made medicine a choice?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 4:16

Medicine. I feel like every time I get this question, my answer kind of changes because I think there's a lot of different influences, right? There's been a lot of sickness in my family. I mean, something like TB. At least two or three people have had TB in my family. And that's something that's very preventable, something that we can treat. And I guess as you get knowledge, you're just like sometimes what we lack is really just knowledge and information to be able to act early. And, you know, that's one of the things that really pushed me to be like, I could have done something if I had that information that I do now, you know, as a doctor. Also, I used to watch a lot of Grey's Anatomy. I blame Grey's Anatomy, even though it sold me dreams that were not real at all.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 5:01

If I tell you that at least three or four of your generation that I have interviewed on this podcast all say Grey's Anatomy had a major influence on their decision.

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 5:13

It really did. We were watching Grey's Anatomy life, and you know, it just seemed like such an amazing career. There's so much happening in the hospital. The hospitals are well resourced, which is far from our reality. But yeah, that played a major role because I was watching Grey's Anatomy in matric. So when I was making all these important decisions, it just made so much sense. I could just see myself in the field. And one of the things I was looking forward to most, I was like, I can't wait until I graduate and I'm a doctor. And then when my mom calls me, I'll be like, Mom, sorry, I can't talk, I'm on call. And now I dread being on call. You know, such a dreamy moment.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 5:49

Yeah, they make it look very romantic on those TV shows.

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 5:53

They do, they really do. And then just seeing some of the doctors that were ahead of us in our community. And so I think they also influenced me a bit and just encouraged that itch that I already had.

Glamour Vs Reality Of Being A Doctor

Dr Maria Christodoulou 6:05

And so the dream that you had of what it would mean to be a doctor versus the reality now that you are a doctor, is there an overlap? Is it what you expected it would be?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 6:16

I'd say yes and no. A no to the fact that I guess being a doctor is glamourised and it's not a glamorous job at all. The work that we do is quite tiresome. It can be gruesome. It's quite taxing in many ways. And people don't get to see that. People don't see beyond that. I guess it's colleagues and other people in the health space who really understand what happens. And what I'd say yes to is just being recognised as a doctor, being a doctor as a social status. I think it does give me a lot of respect in certain spaces. My family is able to pride themselves in having a doctor in the family.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 6:55

Of course.

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 6:56

Which makes my mom very happy. But yeah, beyond that, I don't think it's as amazing as we thought it would be. I mean, look at the crisis right now in South Africa. I'm a doctor myself, and I'm at home, still, you know, in the job market and looking for employment. And when we grew up, it was one of those things. If you're a doctor, you'll never struggle for a job. Doctors always get employment, there's always space and a need for doctors. And there's still a need, but there's just no opportunities at the moment, or you really have to work hard for them. So I guess the reality now is very different from what being a doctor and what the healthcare sector looked like back then.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 7:34

And what was it like to leave your small rural village and find yourself at Stellenbosch University?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 7:40

I always say Stellenbosch chose me because I applied to like five different universities when I was in matric. And Stellenbosch was one of the first to respond and give me a conditional offer. And they had this camp. It was a recruitment camp. We used to call it Black Camp.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 7:54

I remember Black Camp, yeah.

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 7:55

Yeah. So a lot of kids, because Stellenbosch was trying to meet numbers for black people and people of colour. So they had a recruitment bursary scheme where if you meet the requirements, they'd be able to fund you. So I went to Stellenbosch for this camp when I was in matric. So it was very, very exciting. A university inviting me over, expecting me is... because I wanted to go to UCT. So when we got to Stellenbosch, it was really an amazing week of activities. We spent a lot of time on main campus. I did not know I was going to be in Tygerberg.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 8:30

Oh dear.

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 8:32

Yeah, yeah. So I could see my university life unfolding there. And the fact that they did offer funding because it was very difficult to get funding for medical studies at that time. That was a good incentive for me. And yeah, the rest is history. I just knew in Jan that I'm going to Stellenbosch. And that's how I ended up there. So shout out to the Recruitment Bursary. It really helped us.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 8:52

Did you ever regret not going to UCT?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 8:55

I think at times, yes. Not regret, but I think about what my life would have turned out, what it would have looked like if I'd gone to UCT. I think Stellenbosch was a very challenging environment, particularly for Black students during my time, possibly still now as well. There's just a lot of challenges that you go through that are unnecessary, that I don't think or suppose are to that extent at other institutions, with UCT being the prime example close by. Because of Stellenbosch's colonial history, apartheid history, and just the legacy of everything that exists there and that makes you feel like you don't belong in that environment. So that was very prominent. That was very palpable when we were there as students. And the teaching and the hospital experience and the training and the assessments. So I did feel that. I do have a lot of bad memories of those. And I don't glorify it. And that's why I'm like, I could have gone to another institution and probably come out still a good doctor with possibly better grades because you're recognised for the work that you put in, whereas I don't think Stellenbosch did that very well.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 10:02

Are there any stories that stand out for you about your time at Stellenbosch?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 10:06

Good or bad?

Dr Maria Christodoulou 10:08

You tell me. Both.

Student Leadership And Language Policy Flashpoint

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 10:12

I think what I loved the most about being at Stellenbosch is how I got to get involved in a lot of activities. So I was very interested in student leadership. So from my second year, I was the speaker of the students' parliament. I was a cluster convener, did a lot of resident leadership things. So that community that I built in those leadership spaces was a lot of fun. I loved facilitating a lot of discussions. I think one that stands out for me, you may remember that... I think it was around 2015, 2016, not exactly sure. There was a video released by a couple of students on the main campus about the Luister video, right? It was called Luister. So it was a documentary where students were sharing the experiences of being students at Stellenbosch, of being taught in Afrikaans, being forced to speak Afrikaans, even though they didn't understand it or have any background in it. This is one of the things that stirred the whole review of the language policy in the university. So it's obviously spread across Stellenbosch campuses and was a very big topic at Tygerberg. And during those times, when it came to like critical conversations and discourse, the attendance was usually like the same people and quite poorly attended in most cases. But I think when we decided to host this as part of the student parliament, partnering with some of the student leaders from different sectors of the leadership bodies of the school. And literally we had a hub full of students. We had no capacity. People were standing outside, and we had one roaming mic, and I was facilitating that discussion. The room was packed. I think everyone wanted to have a say. It was an amazing conversation. We had recordings of it, but we had to get rid of them a couple of years ago. But I think that's one of the moments where we came together on one shared issue or struggle where people wanted to speak about what was going on in the institution, but there was no platform. And that's what we provided at that time. So that was really, really good. I think probably one of the most attended discussions on campus at that time. Yeah. So I'll give that as my highlight of my journey at Stellenbosch and my leadership journey in particular. Yeah, it grew me a lot. And funny enough, a lot of the people that have become friends now and that I've met along my studies and travels abroad are people that I met as student leadership friends. So from different courses on main campus, people from Tygerberg itself. So yeah, I think it's just been a really full circle moment connecting with people that I was with about 10 years ago in university. And now we're all adults having our own careers and you know getting to meet now and reflect and just, you know, catch up. I'll always appreciate the university for giving me good friendships and just a space to grow as a leader and being able to meet brilliant minds, really, really brilliant minds.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 13:24

Wonderful. What about some of the low lights? You've spoken about a highlight.

Bias In Assessment And Academic Hurdles

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 13:30

Oh, low lights. I'd say, I think this was during one of my years at Stellenbosch. Maybe I won't say which year, because it's going to be very particular. But I was doing an exam, and I think when I first started medicine, I really struggled. And then I had to pick up my socks. And once I did, I knew what I was doing. You know, I really had to put in the work and I was very comfortable in the work that I was doing and where I was academically. So I had an OSKE, and it was on a topic that I knew you could wake me up at 4 a.m. in the morning and I could sing it to you. You know, when you feel so confident in a topic. And I had that in that exam. I had a patient who had the exact same case, and the person who was examining me, asked me any question you can think about about the condition. And I was really able to back it up. And it felt really good. You know, I was so proud of myself. And they could also tell that, you know, I knew exactly what I was talking about. So in that exam, at the end of it, the examiner was like, okay, well done. I think you did really well. I'll give you a 65. It took me a second, and I was like, Doc, I think I did really well. You're right. Why didn't I get a distinction? And the response was like, oh yeah, you're right. I'll give you a 75. On the spot, my mark jumped just like that. So for me, yes, I got the A, but it really just confirmed the unfortunate assumptions that we had about the grading systems that were really unfair and prejudiced because how do you decide on a whim that, oh no, you actually did really well, you can get this A. That means I actually started at a 40, and I don't think that's how other students are treated, or white students for that matter, who usually get better grades. And it makes you question like all these grades that I've been getting and complaining about, are they really reflective of my knowledge and my learning here? So that was a really painful experience for me. And I couldn't even wait it because I'm like, why did I have to fight for that? And not everyone can speak up in that environment and say, no, I actually think I deserve better. So how many students, how many people have missed the opportunity of getting the results they deserve just because they couldn't speak up?

Dr Maria Christodoulou 15:42

Yeah, that's quite a story.

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 15:45

Yeah, I'll always remember that one. I don't think it's gonna go away.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 15:50

And the clinical exposure, how was that for you?

Rural Clinical School And Emergency Medicine

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 15:53

The clinical exposure was good. I'm very grateful for the system that we had or the curriculum at the time, which I think we started clinicals in second year already, or just exposure to being in hospital. And then in my final year, because I really wanted to do well academically, and I thought changing my environment and being in the rural school was going to help me. And it really did.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 16:17

So you were a student at the rural school?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 16:20

Yeah, I joined the rural clinical school. I was in Ceres for my final year. I think my focus then at the time was that I wanted to work in a space where I can deal with undifferentiated patients because I felt we were doing our learning in rotations and my thinking was always in silos. So when I'm done with surgery, I'm focused on internal medicine, and my brain was only internal medicine focused. And then when I go back to a patient from surgery, it really disturbed me. So I think rural school really helped me with that because you could never decide which kind of patient was coming your way, and you could deal with any patient in that way. So I really loved that. I loved getting to be independent. I think it prepared me very well for internship. I was very comfortable. I had a good support system. So the doctors that we worked with in Ceres were brilliant. There was a lot of independent learning, a lot of online learning as well, because there are students across different rural locations in the Western Cape, and we'd meet virtually, we'd have our tutorials virtually as well. But yeah, I think that that really was the best part for me. So yeah, I appreciate that Tygerberg really exposed us to the clinical experience early, like to clinical training and teaching. At some point, I really thought I was going to be an emergency medicine physician. I think that was one of my favorite rotations when I was still in Tygerberg before heading out to rural school. Again, there the support was good. We worked with amazing doctors that really like pushed us. They made sure that we took a little bit of responsibility as students as well, and we felt quite capable. So, I don't know if that's a shared experience across different different medical schools, but that was good for me.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 18:06

What did you like about emergency medicine?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 18:08

I liked that I could manage an emergency because it's such a stressful situation. I think even if you're used to it, and I saw this when I was working as well, just reflecting on it afterwards. I think in the moment, it's not the best, but just being able to realise that I was able to handle that situation so well, that I had a good team, I was able to get the patient stable, get the necessary support that I needed. Yeah, that was quite reassuring in terms of, you know, I actually know what I'm doing and I know more than I think I do. And I can do more than I think I do, you know.

Internship Highs And Lows In Johannesburg

Dr Maria Christodoulou 18:41

Nice. What was your internship like?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 18:44

Internship was in Johannesburg, and I did want to move to Johannesburg, so I was very excited for it. I was at Tambo Memorial Hospital. It was a good internship, I must say.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 18:56

I don't often hear that.

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 18:59

Well, not everything was good, but overall, in retrospect, and just compared to colleagues and their stories, I think it could have been worse. And again, you know, emergency medicine was one of my favourites at that time as well. Very good emergency medicine department. And I was the ICD champion. That's actually one of my favorite procedures to perform. Yeah, ICD insertion.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 19:26

So for our listeners who don't know what that is, do you want to give some detail?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 19:30

Yeah, so ICD stands for an intercostal drain. It's a pipe that we insert into the chest when possibly your lung has collapsed or there's blood in your lungs, and we need to help a patient breathe. We make a cut on your chest, we put the pipe in, and that helps you breathe better. So that was one of my favourite, favourite procedures. And given that it was Johannesburg, and you know, there is a lot of crime, there's a lot of injuries. We did have a lot of those patients that came into the emergency department. I think I struggled the most with... Any other intern might tell you the same thing. Internal medicine, obstetrics and gynaecology. Oh yeah. You'll never see me in those wards in my whole life ever again.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 20:09

Oh yes. Why not?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 20:11

I think the work is... It's tiresome. The wards are always overflowing. The support wasn't the best in those departments as well. I think also because even the senior doctors are overwhelmed. Yeah. I think with obstetrics, I enjoy the learning because I think the medicine there is just so beautiful and interesting and exciting. But performing that and practicing it, mm-mm. Mm-hmm. It's for other people, not for me.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 20:39

And obs and gynae, because as somebody who's expressed an interest in sexual and reproductive health, I would imagine that there's a lot happening in obs and gynae that's related to that.

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 20:50

There's definitely a lot. I mean, I'm happy to teach about it. I'm happy to talk about it. And I think it extends beyond the hospital walls, right? Which is what I've learned and what I've tried to share is that it's not really just about giving birth and having a cancer and being in the hospital. There's so much more to sexual and reproductive health than being in the hospital ward. I think that's where my focus is. And there's a lot of learnings from obstetrics and gynaecology that comes from that, but not for me to actually practice. No. I think it's for other people. And I respect them so much.

Sexual Health Beyond Hospital Walls

Dr Maria Christodoulou 21:28

It's interesting because when you were talking about your interest in emergency medicine, there's something about that immediacy of being able to solve a problem right then and there, which with, you know, internal medicine, for example, is not as readily available. Managing chronic disease and working with patients over many years and all of that. But I'm always fascinated by people who love those acute situations, whether that's surgical skills or whether that's emergency medicine, because personally I hate the chaos of those environments. And I'll admit that I get woozy at the sight of blood and that sticking chest drains into people used to terrify me. So I'm listening to you talk about, you know, how much you enjoyed emergency medicine and then that you found internal medicine and obs and gynae a little bit more challenging. Really, I guess it's a particular quality of character or personality that is more drawn to the one kind of work than the other.

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 22:32

I'm interested now. What were your favorite rotations?

Dr Maria Christodoulou 22:35

My favorite rotations were paeds. I really liked paediatrics. And I'm gonna admit that I quite liked internal medicine in some respects. I didn't like the fact that week after week I was sitting in diabetic clinics and seeing patients who were not making any progress, who were lacking in education or information, and mostly whose circumstances were due to factors outside of their control, but they were having to take the responsibility for issues that were determined by social and political problems rather than by their health behaviours. But I liked building relationship with people over time. I wanted to get to know people's stories, I wanted to understand what was happening in their lives, even if at times that made it harder to stay in the clinical space because I knew that I couldn't impact those things. And you know, I was a medical student, certainly, at the height of the apartheid era. We had a hospital with a west wing and an east wing, and white patients on the one side in empty wards with one or two beds occupied, and then black patients on the other side of the hospital with wards overflowing and people in corridors and nursing staff who were completely overwhelmed, and you know, there was a lot of inequity. And I remember feeling so guilty after realising one day that I was complaining about patients who were not following their diabetic diet or coming back to the hospital to get their medication. And it hadn't occurred to me in my white privilege that those patients didn't have the means or the resources to come and go from the hospital to get medication and that when you don't know where your next meal is coming from, a diabetic diet is really not a priority. But that awareness sensitized me and I think made me a much better doctor and really highlighted the fact that you can't separate the social and the political from the personal.

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 24:34

No, you can't. And I think that's, you know, you're touching something that we face even now, right?

Systemic Inequality And Primary Care Gaps

Dr Maria Christodoulou 24:38

Yeah. You know, during my comserv, I worked in a clinic in Soweto, and a lot of the times I was the only doctor there. And the same patient that I was seeing now in January, I knew I'm seeing them again in March with the very same problems that I sent them home with. And I think that's what frustrated me with medicine is that we're treating symptoms of greater social ills, right? I'm sending the patient back to the very same environment that contributed and caused possibly the illness that they have without any remedy to sort out the root cause. So it felt like I wasn't really making a difference. So I definitely get that. And I still think that our system needs to be improved, particularly when it comes to primary health care. We're not doing enough when it comes to preventative medicine in South Africa. I think even in our training, it's not given enough thought and training for healthcare professionals to be able to execute that really well. So you ended up at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine doing a master's in public health. How did that come about?

Why Public Health And The Chevening Journey

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 25:40

So this is an interesting one because I've always had an interest in public health, not really knowing what it was. So when I was in my fourth year, I did my medical elective in public health. Thanks to Prof. Jimmy, who was our dean at the time, he helped us organize an elective in Washington with an organization called CUGH. It was a consortium of universities for global health. I think that was my early and one of my first exposures to public health as a sector. And I think the focus at the time was on Ebola. There was the Ebola crisis. And I attended a lot of conferences and workshops that were on public health-related issues. And it's funny that I was in DC, and a lot of the public health topics that were being discussed, was everything that was happening on our continent in Africa. So there was a bit of a tension that I held with that idea of the solutions being discussed on the other end and who was at the table and who wasn't, and who was in the room even. Yeah, so that's my only interest. And then now, just referring to my experience in Soweto when I was in comserv, I think all these issues just kept coming up to me in terms of I don't feel that I'm making a difference in patients' lives. I don't think I'm making a difference in black communities in South Africa. Yes, I'll put in the chest drain, but why are people getting stabbed in the first place? What's going on in our communities? You know, this 50, 60-year-old woman that keeps coming back to me every three months with the same problem. I'm giving them medication, I'm giving them counseling, I'm referring them to dietitians and allied health. But what's causing these issues that they're having? And that's really where public health became important to me. And that's why I wanted to get my qualification in public health, learn how to approach things from this different perspective. And I really think that, you know, I've met a lot of people who've done intercalating studies. So they pause their medical studies, do public health for a year, and then continue with medicine. They're very different doctors to doctors who just do medicine and practice straight away. So that has been enlightening for me. And that's what the London School really gave me. So I had an opportunity to apply for the Chevening Scholarship. So this is a scholarship by the UK government to support studies for master's degrees for students across almost all countries, many, many countries. And you can study in the UK for a year, and that's how I was able to go to the London School. And I spent the year there. And now I'm done. We actually just got our results last week. So graduation is coming up.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 28:11

Congratulations. I actually wondered because your online profile says that you're a candidate in your master's program. And I wasn't sure if you had completed it yet until you sent me your bio. So, what's it like to be a young black woman from South Africa who grew up in a small rural town and find yourself in London at the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine?

London School: Global Classrooms, Deeper Learning

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 28:36

Fun, exciting, confusing sometimes. I think London was great. It reminds me a lot of Johannesburg. It's very busy. It's an international community. Almost every other person you meet is not from there. It's from everywhere else in the world. And it's just such a multicultural space. It provided a rich experience for me. I heard about countries that I'd never heard of in my life, if I must admit. And I've made some really good friends from across the world. And I think the learning at the London School is what was quite interesting. So the setup of the master's program is that you get a reading list ahead of your lectures that you need toyyad. You go to your lecture, and then after the lecture, there are things that are called seminars. So then you're in smaller groups dissecting what the lecture was about or diving deeper into whatever the topic was. And that's where a lot of the learning and connecting happened for me. Because we're talking about HIV, and someone from the States will tell you about HIV, someone from Somalia will tell you about it, someone from Mexico. And it's all these different experiences and perspectives that you haven't worked in before, you haven't experienced, but now that you get to learn about. I loved that structure a lot. And I think most of my learning came from that kind of space where we were able to just connect deeper and meet people from everywhere and hear from them.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 30:02

How has that program or studying in the UK changed the way you think about our health system here in South Africa?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 30:12

Interesting. I think a lot of what I was questioning was just, you know, being in the UK and being able to use the NHS and looking at South Africa moving towards the NHI. It was very interesting to see how that works because I personally support the NHI because we need to redress the inequalities of the past. And like you had mentioned earlier, there's a lot of factors outside the hospital that impact patient wellness and health that aren't addressed. And access is still a very big issue. Yes, we have free healthcare in South Africa, but accessing that and accessing good quality care is still such a big problem. And I guess those issues aren't just in South Africa. You see that in the UK as well, just on a different scale and in a different context. And there's a bit of not all that glitters is gold, but access is much better. And there's, you know, there's a lot of learning that we can do from that system. Yeah, I think that it's made me look at our health system in a different way, sometimes with a bit more kindness, but also just looking at how important leadership and management is when it comes to people we put in positions of power to make decisions about healthcare in South Africa as well.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 31:35

And looking back, can you recall the moment? And I mean, that's usually a series of many moments, but when did you become aware of the health inequity?

NHS Lessons And South Africa’s NHI

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 31:47

I don't know if it was one moment, but I would say it's a number of factors that have come together and given me a picture of what the situation is. Even in Tygerberg in early clinical years, you could see the patients. It's also just even just comparing the blatant profile of people who come to public hospitals and those who go to private hospitals, right? Our public hospitals serve majority black patients, people of color, and the private sector serves less than 7% of the population, mostly white people and people who are better off, maybe like your middle class. So I guess you start noticing the kind of patient that comes through the doors very early on. Even the way that patients are being treated in the healthcare institutions is not the same. So those are some of the things that I started seeing very early on. You know, one thing that stands out for me actually was when I was, I think I was in fourth year, I was doing family medicine rotation in D'Ar. I was in D'Ar, and there was a lot of TB at that time. And there was also a support grant for patients who had TB. I think it was drug-resistant TB, that is, if I remember correctly. We had a number of patients who were actually faking these sputums so that they could be positive for TB so that they could get the grant. And I remember making it, and that's when I started creating content online because I remember creating a video about this. I do think it was fourth year medicine, because I was so shocked that you know, people are actually really desperate, people are hungry, and we go as far as faking an illness so that I can get any support to put food on the table. And for us, from the medical perspective, it's like that's completely wrong. You don't do that because now we're going to allocate treatment to you. That's government funds that I'm treating you. You are getting a grant, wrongfully so, that you shouldn't be getting. But on the patient's perspective, what must I do? I don't have a job, I'm hungry, I have food on the table. So just all those things I think have accumulated to form or like to just give a broader picture of the inequalities that exist and what patients have to do or don't do because of their circumstances. And I wanted to be part of the solution to that.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 34:16

What does that mean? Be part of the solution? What does that look like for you? Well, that looks like part of the work that I'm doing now.

Seeing Inequity Up Close

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 34:22

So, like I said earlier, I think information and knowledge is one of the first ways that we can bridge that gap. You don't know what you don't know. So you can't make decisions based on information that you don't know. And sometimes those decisions are actually life-saving. So my idea of creating content that provides health education on different social media platforms is really equipping patients with information so that they can make better informed decisions about their health. And the outcome is likely going to be much better and much positive than waiting until we're ill and there's very little medical interventions that exist that can help. So it's the health education for me. So some of the modules that I focused on when I was at the London School were health promotion, in terms of how do we bring health information to communities, what modalities exist and which ones work for which communities? And this has been one of the avenues that I've started to explore. So it's continuing that work and it's now working in public health systems. And that's the kind of work that I'm looking for that impacts people at a community level in terms of what's available in this community to make sure that we get rid of lifestyle conditions. Does the environment allow for that? And what projects exist? How can I get involved in those? And that's really the type of work that I really want to be in. As much as the individual care is important, but for me right now, I think this is where my focus needs to be at the community-level interventions for public health purposes.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 36:06

And I know that you create health education content in isiZulu. How's that been?

Becoming Part Of The Solution

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 36:11

That's a lot of fun. It has challenged me as well because I grew up speaking isiZulu. I come from an isiZulu household and I grew up in KZN. I thought I knew isiZulu very well. But when I started creating content, I just realised that I'm using a lot of English words that I still need to dissect. So I've had to brush up on that a lot. But also, it's just made me realize that we still need to develop a lot of our languages because there's words that just don't exist.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 36:39

I was gonna say, I'm sure there's medical terminology that we don't have Zulu words for.

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 36:44

We don't have intercostal drain in isiZulu. There's no such thing. But that has been really good. And funny enough, I started creating content more regularly on TikTok. And when I create my content in isi Zulu, there's so much engagement. People ask so many questions, people share their stories. And when I do this in English, I don't receive the same response. So it really just tells me that people really just want to engage in a language that they understand. And I get a lot of this feedback and DMs and messages from people like, oh, doc, thank you for speaking my language. You know, my doctor told me this, but I wasn't sure. I just said yes, but you know, I wasn't sure what was going on, and now I understand it better. So thank you. And then I get a lot of requests. Can you talk about this? Can you talk about this? Can you talk about this? So that is really interesting. I think there's a need for that in a lot of more different languages. We have 12 official now, so we need more healthcare professionals online. We have a lot of non-healthcare professionals that share a lot of misinformation. So we need credible individuals that share evidence-based information.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 37:46

And as we know, representation matters. And you know, I must say, when I was reading about the work that you do and that you were creating this content in isiZulu, I was so excited. It represents such a shift in the paradigm in terms of not only making content accessible, but acknowledging the changes that need to happen in this country and who our health system actually represents.

Health Education In isiZulu

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 38:09

Yeah. And I, you know, I shared some thoughts a month or so ago as well, around... Even us as healthcare professionals, there's a certain responsibility that we have to the communities we serve. In terms of, I can't be working in Limpopo for 10 years and I still have made no efforts to learn the language. And my patients still need to speak to me in English or Afrikaans. You know, when I know that the community I serve speaks isiPedi or Sesotho. So there's a lot of work that needs to be done there in terms of meeting our patients halfway. And I think from a healthcare professional's point of view, we haven't done that nearly enough. I know some medical schools have started having languages as part of the curriculum. There's a lot more onus that we need to take in terms of meeting our patients where they are and really just giving them the care that they need. Because if you're going to counsel me in a language that I don't understand, then it really doesn't make any difference if I don't understand what you're saying and I don't get the quality of service that I deserve and the treatment plan and understanding of what's going on with me that I really need and understand well.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 39:27

Do you ever feel it as a burden or as a responsibility that because you are a young black woman, you represent something and therefore have to either be a spokesperson for that or be a role model of some sort in a way that perhaps someone else might not?

Language, Representation, And Trust

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 39:47

Burden, no. Responsibility, yes. I've always been someone who speaks up, you know, from my early years. I've always been the person who'll be a voice, even when sometimes we're not all comfortable to voice things out. So that's something that I'm, I guess, taking on myself. I do think that I do have a responsibility because I do have a platform and I do have some form of influence in certain spaces and certain communities. And I want to be able to use that for good. And I think we all should, you know, if you have influence, use it for good. Even when it doesn't benefit you. A lot of work that I do doesn't necessarily benefit me much in any way. But I know that it helps a lot of people and reaches a lot of people. So being that representation matters for me. I know that people back home here in Bergville, they engage a lot with my content, and a lot of people really appreciate it. And as long as it's making a difference, then I know that I'm doing something right. I wish more of us could take that on from our different communities from different angles. We need more healthcare professionals that are more accessible and to be that voice for our communities, you know. Like you mentioned, there's a lot of work that still needs to be done in our healthcare system, and we can't be complacent to the inequalities, to the injustices that exist. There's something that we need to do about it in whatever capacity.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 41:13

What do you wish you had known before you started medical school?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 41:17

That doctors aren't rich.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 41:22

Yes, it's a common misconception, isn't it?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 41:25

Yeah. Yeah. But what else? What do I think I would have known? Just the reality of being a doctor. That it's not glamorous at all. It's really not a glamorous job. And I keep telling people this, and I guess if you haven't been through the experience, you won't really know. But it's a lot of hard work and it needs to be heart work more than anything. But also we need an environment that supports that so that we don't get hardened. I think my experience with a lot of professionals is that because a lot of things don't function well, people lose their passion and then we just become passive participants in this system that doesn't always serve the needs of the community. But I mean, I guess that's difficult for a grade 12 person to understand, a grade 11 applying for medical school. And you're not going to dissuade people from pursuing those careers. But I think just a touch of that reality would have been great. And I always tell the youngings that want to go into medicine, I'm like, if you want to be a doctor, I would really encourage you to follow an intern for a week in the hospital, not a senior doctor, not a specialist. Follow an intern and be with them and just see what the reality of medicine is and then you know make a decision from there. But yeah, it's a noble profession. It's a noble profession. And I respect people who've been in the field for many years. And yeah, it's not all the glamour that we think it is. It's not Grey's Anatomy at all. That's also what I wish I would have known. It's not Grey's anatomy.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 43:05

It's not. What was it about Grey's Anatomy that made you go, yes, this is what I want to do? Like, what did you think you would be doing?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 43:14

What did I think? I thought it would be like Grey's Anatomy. I thought I would be Christina Yang, Meredith Grey, a Bailey, and you know, we'd have this amazing, large team of doctors. I can't believe six, seven doctors attending to one patient. So unreal. I guess it looked like a lot of fun because it's obviously a TV drama series. You know, it's selling you the work, but also the stories of the people that are living that life. And yeah, that hasn't necessarily been a reality. It was just fun to watch. It created an aspiration of sorts and a yearning to just want to be part of it and to be able to just be that healer. And yeah, I think those are the things that I can think of off the top of my head.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 44:03

And knowing what you know now about medicine, do you think you would do it again?

Responsibility, Influence, And Community Voice

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 44:09

I think so. Because I don't know where else I would be or what else I would be doing. Because yes, as much as I'm not practicing medicine right now and I'm, you know, focused on public health, I think I needed that medical grounding and background to be able to do what I do now and understand the importance of what I do now. And I think I've also always wanted work that allows me to speak. And I would have ended up in a platform like that as well, in one way or another. So yeah, I think I would do it again. Although I was really good in accounting, for some reason, I still went for medicine. Yeah. There was never that drive to be an accountant or an engineer or, you know, those traditional careers that we had. I guess what's nice is that I have been able to explore the other parts that I really wanted to do. You know, remember I told you I always wanted to be on TV and I always used to look at them and be like, you know, I should be on TV. So when I got to medical school, I was like, now I'm in the city, I'm in Cape Town, and you know, I can join an agency and do TV ads. So I used to do some of that work when I was in medical school.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 45:16

Did I read correctly that you entered the Miss South Africa pageant at some stage as well?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 45:20

Oh dear, yes, I did.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 45:23

Why, oh dear?

Myths About Money And Medical Reality

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 45:25

It was so long ago. Yeah, so those were good experiences. I really enjoyed like the storytelling of being on TV and being able to be in front of the camera and do fun things. And I guess that satisfied that part of me that really wanted to engage in that. And I guess it's not very different from the social media content that I create now. I'm still in front of the camera and I'm speaking and sharing information, more like education entertainment, edutainment now, whereas that was purely like entertainment and advertising for advertising purposes. So I did enter Miss South Africa, and my aim and my project focus at that time was on health education. And so when that didn't work out, I still carried on and did my health education. And here I am now with 450k followers plus. So I think we're on track.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 46:21

Yeah. You spoke earlier about wishing you'd known that doctors aren't rich. And, you know, even about the idea that Grey's anatomy sort of glamourises medicine, and then we kind of confront the realities once we study. What's it like to have spent six years studying, two years internship, community service, a year to get your master's in public health, and you come back home with so much to offer, so much desire to make a difference, and there are no jobs, no employment opportunities. So you're currently unemployed, right? I mean, you're creating your part, but you're unemployed.

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 47:04

That's correct. So I think it's been disheartening seeing this unfold over the past two, three years. And I guess we saw early on that there is a crisis looming, and here we are. I mean, I'm back home in Bergville now. Last week I was with another doctor who's been home for six months. He's also post-comserve. And, you know, locuming, but no real stable employment. So there are a lot of people that I do know who are even close to me that are still unemployed and are doctors. So it's quite disheartening, and it's a failed system given all what we're seeing in the news now. We know there's a lot of mismanagement of funds, there's a lot of corruption and poor leadership. You know, that's quite disheartening. But for me personally, I'm enjoying the break a little bit. And I'm certain that I will get the right role for me for the work, the kind of work that I want to do. So am I stressed about being unemployed at the moment? No. And am I excited for what's next? Yes, even though I don't know what it is yet. So I would say that's where I am at the moment. I know it's gonna work out, and it's gonna work out in a way that would work for me and be in my favour.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 48:16

And what gives you that confidence?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 48:19

Because things always work out. Yeah. Yeah, no, it works out one way or another. And yeah.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 48:28

So let's talk about this digital content space and creating online content. I mean, it's a whole new world for medical doctors, and there's a lot happening, obviously, and with the advancement of AI. But how do you find balancing sort of professional boundaries, ethics, being so visible on social media? What are some of the challenges you've experienced and what are some of the things you enjoy?

Content Creation Ethics And Boundaries

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 48:54

Sure. Good question. So when I started, I was very uncomfortable with what I was doing, but I knew that I wanted to do it. I started on YouTube, when I was still in medical school. I was in a community where there were a lot of teenage pregnancies. It's actually in my final year when I started creating YouTube content. There were a lot of teenage pregnancies, and I felt like we weren't doing enough about it. And a lot of the girls, when you speak to them, they just didn't know that they could access contraceptives. And when they did, they were too scared. And I felt like we needed to close that gap. But I was obviously very scared of, I'm still a student. Do I qualify to be speaking about this and putting it online and be out there? What's going to be the feedback? Is the university going to be okay with it? How are other professionals going to look at me? So I've sat with that discomfort. Even when I started working, I think as an intern, you're still like at the bottom of the system. And there's a bit of discomfort of, oh, my seniors might see me online. I don't know what they're going to think about this content. But I got over that very, very early. I still created the content, but I still sat with that discomfort of, I don't know what the boundaries are, but knowing very well that I'm not sharing any misinformation, this is all evidence-based. And, you know, that line of providing education instead of medical advice remaining very clear. And I think, you know, with all the issues that we've spoken about that I've noted and that I've had to sit with, I felt like this was one of the ways that I could contribute to providing a solution, providing people knowledge. So right now, I mean, we've even seen in South Africa, we even had fake doctors that were providing information online, providing medicines. It felt like there's a vacuum of credible healthcare professionals, and we needed to step in. And that's what also encouraged me to be like, I'm doing something right, and people need credible information out there from real healthcare professionals. So there's obviously a lot of boundaries. You mentioned about just your own personal life, being able to keep those boundaries, even when you're engaging with people that you don't know on the screen. I think I remain very clear that this is for education purposes. This is to help you when you go see your doctor. You go there with already a bit of background knowledge. You go there and you're ready to ask questions because now you've learned something new and your doctor should be able to help you process that. And I mean, given the fact that even appointments with doctors are 15, 20 minutes, if you're lucky, this bridges that gap, that information gap, that counseling gap. Because if a patient is coming there already with information, you're able to add onto that as a healthcare professional who's seeing them, you're able to guide them to make the right decision as well. So, yeah, it's an interesting space. Some topics I really wonder if I'm the right person to speak about them. But there's also a lot of research that goes into creating these videos because I need to make sure that they're up to date, they're still evidence-based, they're relevant to community that I'm speaking to as well. So there's a lot of work that comes with it, but I think it serves the right purpose.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 52:05

I don't even know, but I'm sure our health professions council has guidelines about what is allowed and what isn't allowed. Do you have any idea what the sort of rules are about creating social media content as a doctor?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 52:18

Yeah. So the HPCSA does have social media guidelines, and it's around being very clear about, you know, you can't provide medical advice online, nothing that will bring the profession into disrepute, medicine regulations, being able to advertise and sell healthcare products. So there's a whole document that has those guidelines, and I'm glad they do exist. I do think they need to be improved to be a bit more relevant to the times that we live in now. But yeah, those guidelines do exist.

Professional Culture Meets Social Media

Hobbies, Radio, And Life Beyond Medicine

Dr Maria Christodoulou 52:51

It strikes me as we're speaking that it represents, I guess, another huge shift that's happening in the medical paradigm. Because, you know, when I was a young doctor, even when you were writing articles or research papers, you never wrote in the first person. It was never I this. It was always in this abstract royal we, or you spoke about the research and the data and the things you were doing without ever naming the person behind the scenes. And it wasn't considered good research if you brought in too much of your own perspective. And the idea, of course, being that you might be biased. And it was only later that the idea that your own personal bias was actually important to name and know became apparent. But 20 years ago, maybe... Not even, it would have been 2009 when I first started working at Tygerberg. I'd been in private practice for a while and I'd studied coaching and I'd done other things. And then I got this opportunity to come back and work at Tygerberg. And at some stage, soon after I started there, I attended the WONCA Family Medicine Congress. And because I had a part-time sort of private coaching practice going on in the background, I had in those early days a small sort of online presence. We didn't have any of the social media platforms that we have now, but I can't even remember the name of the platform. There was one platform where I had written a little bit about my personal story and what led me to study coaching. And I shared in there that I'd suffered from burnout and that I'd been divorced and I'd had depression in my life. And one of the senior family physicians who was going to introduce me for the session that I was going to run pulled me aside at one of the dinners and advised me to take that down because it would reflect badly on me professionally. And I remember being terrified that I'd done something wrong and that by revealing something of my personal self in this social space, I was somehow compromising my ethics or even my professionalism. And I couldn't get home fast enough to delete that information. And so now to have your generation of young doctors so much more visible and advocating for health things, but also in some ways showing yourselves on social media. And for my generation, I hate making videos. This is why I do an audio podcast, not a video podcast. I hate being visible. And I even have had to sort of grapple with making my own ideas visible or my perspectives visible, because there's such a deeply ingrained thing of remain in the background. The patient is primary and the knowledge is primary. The person needs to not be in the picture, which of course is a ridiculous notion. It can't ever happen. But yeah, so I'm feeling like it's actually maybe even a reclaiming of doctor's humanity. You are a human being, you have views, you have perspectives, you have experiences, you have knowledge, and you get to share that. And you can do that visibly in a public forum, which is quite exciting, actually.

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 56:08

Yeah, yeah. I think things have definitely changed. But, you know, even with engaging with other doctors who are online, there's still that discomfort that exists. I guess because even our training and the institution of being medical doctors, we know that there's a lot of rules, there's a lot of regulations, there's a lot of ethics that you need to abide by. And this very stiff environment that we train in, it becomes very difficult to do something else that is outside of the norm that other professionals might frown upon or find different or weird, something that hasn't been done before. So things might have changed, but you know, a bit of that still exists. There's still a bit of discomfort. You still find a lot of doctors who are like, I do it, but you know, I'm uncomfortable. At work, I make sure that, you know, no one knows what I'm doing. I don't want to deal with the feedback or whatever opinions there are. Funny enough, when I did my first video on YouTube, another student who I was with at Tygerberg actually sent me a message. They're like, no, I don't think you should be doing that video. Also, you're wearing your scrubs from Stellenbosch. I don't think it's okay. It's going to get you in trouble. So I almost took that down. And I decided, no, let me see. If anything happens, or if there are any issues, then I will. And it's been live for 10 years now. So I get you.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 57:29

Is there anything about you that people would be surprised to know?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 57:34

Hmm. What would be people surprised to know about me? I don't think so. I think I'm a very open book, you know? And what you see is really what you get. Yeah, I don't think there's anything of particular interest. No, no.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 57:51

Well, we've spent a lot of time talking about you as a doctor and the sort of journey that you've walked so far. What are some of the things about you that we haven't talked about? What are your hobbies? What are the things you enjoy doing outside of the workspace?

Family, New Doctor, And Daily Advice

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 58:06

So I'm an avid netball player. It's been my heart sport since early primary school. I haven't been able to do that lately or in the past year, but that's something that's very close to my heart. So instead, I've taken up running. So I'm a runner now. And it's been so nice running back home. I never really appreciated our mountains and our landscapes before. So it's been good to be able to experience that now. Yeah, so that's a bit. And you know, I create content online. I enjoy creating content. I enjoy radio as well. Funny enough, I've done a couple of radio interviews recently, also around health education. So I actually really enjoyed that more than I thought I would. I thought I was more of a TV person. I used to love reading and I'm trying to get back into it. I think medical school ruined it for me. Because whenever I read a book, I was like, oh, I could be studying. I could be reading something that's gonna help me with my studies. So I'm slowly starting to get into it again. Yeah, that I do enjoy. Yeah, and I love traveling. I wanna... I want to travel, I want to see the world, and I can't wait to get back to that again.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 59:18

Yeah, I think was it a LinkedIn post where you said that scholarship opportunities have changed your life and exposed you to parts of the world and perspectives that you wouldn't have been exposed to otherwise. What were some of the things that surprised you about being overseas?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 59:34

Things that surprised me... I guess the interesting thing about... This is about London in particular is that because a lot of us were from all over the world, forming friendships was much easier than anticipated. I think people are keen to meet new people. I think those who do travel also have that yearning to learn more about you as much as you want to learn about them and their own countries. I even made a friend from Tunisia, and that's the first African country I've visited outside of South Africa, embarrassingly enough. So I've been on both poles of the African continent, but nowhere in the middle. So I think that's what I've really appreciated. Like people are actually really kind out there. There's obviously other people who aren't as kind, but I've appreciated how open and willing people are to learn and to engage and connect. That I've loved a lot because I guess when you're moving to a different country, you have no friends, you have no family, that can be a bit unsettling, but it's also fertile ground for new relationships and connections to form. So I've loved that.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 1:00:48

You mentioned earlier that you have what, six brothers?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 1:00:51

I do.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 1:00:52

What's it like growing up with six brothers? And where were you in the hierarchy?

Ambitions For 2030

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 1:00:57

So there's always a little brother. So I am number six. My little brother's number seven. So when I get this question, I'm always like, I don't know what it's like having sisters. So I'm not sure about my comparison, but I have cousins who I grew up with who have become sisters to me. But yeah, I think growing up with my brothers, they're all very overprotective. Sometimes they don't realize that I'm a grown woman now, I'm an adult, and they need to give me some breathing room. But yeah, my mom treated us all the same. So I guess some of those differences weren't as apparent when we grew up. So yeah, but lovely, lovely home. There's always people because there's obviously a lot of us. We're quite a big family. And yeah, we've grown closer as we've become adults.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 1:01:50

Are you the only doctor in the family?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 1:01:53

No, not until last week. Yeah, my brother just graduated as a doctor as well. So we now have two in the family. He was also in Stellenbosch, funny enough. So we were in Cape Town last week celebrating his graduation. So yeah, there's two doctor Letsoalo's now. My mom's pride and joy.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 1:02:14

I can imagine. And how is that for you? Because I know that in my family I was the first doctor, and later my brother also became a doctor. And I have a cousin who's a doctor now. But that sense of sort of yes, the pride, but then also the responsibility and all the family wanting medical advice and looking to you for guidance about their health issues. Has that been an issue for you?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 1:02:37

So, yes and no, because sometimes they just disregard whatever I have to say.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 1:02:41

Yes, there's that too.

Guidance For Future Doctors

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 1:02:43

I'm the doctor. I know you guys are adults, but I do know better in this sector. So when I tell you that this is what it is and this is what you should and shouldn't do, it's advisable that you listen to me. It doesn't always work out. So there's a bit of that, but yeah, you do get family and relatives that call in. Hey, this is what's going on. What must I do? What must I do? And a lot of the times there's not really much you can do, but say, it's good if you go and consult. But I guess now I'm not the only one who's gonna carry that. So my brother has joined in, and I told him he's fresh, he has the best knowledge, he has the freshest knowledge in the world. So go to him. I'm doing referrals now, inter-family referrals. It's exciting though. I think it's a very exciting period for us, and we're excited for him. He's going into internship, which is gonna be fun.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 1:03:35

Where would you like to be five years from now?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 1:03:41

Five years from now, that is 2030. I want to have my own public health consulting firm. So hopefully I'll have that established by then. And I want to be consulting on public health community campaigns on sexual and reproductive health, non-communicable diseases. That would be something I'd love to see come to life. At that point, I would have grown my health education platforms. On all digital platforms, I would have grown significantly and partnered with departments, organisations that are doing the same work that I'm doing. Yeah, and then I'll be a more experienced public health expert and voice.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 1:04:22

What about your personal life? What would you like to see for yourself in the next few years?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 1:04:28

Oh, my personal life. What would I like to see? I think I still want to travel a bit more, so I might live abroad for a bit. And it's so funny how our careers are so intertwined with our personal lives. All I'm thinking about is my career as I'm trying to answer this.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 1:04:44

I've been mindful of that as we've been speaking. So much of it is about your professional life and your career. Almost as though there hasn't been much space to think about the personal.

Where To Find Lethu Online

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 1:04:56

Yeah, and I'm even thinking now what factors constitute my personal life? Yeah, so I think I definitely want to travel a bit more. I want to engage a bit more. Okay, now I'm going back into work. Okay. Let's say I'm gonna be traveling a lot more in my personal life.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 1:05:16

Right.

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 1:05:17

Yeah.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 1:05:18

So if somebody said, Who is Dr. Lethukwenama Letsoalolo, what would you say?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 1:05:25

She's a girl from Bergville in KZN. And she's someone who loves engaging with people, loves meeting people. And yeah, a doctor who really just wants to make a difference in communities, particularly black communities in South Africa.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 1:05:42

I really, really hope that you get the opportunity to do that. In fact, I have no doubt that you are already doing that. But my wish for you is that the platforms will expand and open up so that you can reach more people and have the influence you're hoping to have.

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 1:05:57

Thank you. I receive that. Let's make it happen.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 1:06:00

Yeah. Is there anything I haven't asked you about that you'd like to share?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 1:06:05

No, I think we've covered good aspects of all of it. Yeah.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 1:06:08

You mentioned earlier that you would tell a matriculant who's thinking of studying medicine to follow an intern around for a week. What advice would you have for a young person, particularly a young black person from a rural area who's imagining that they could be a doctor one day? What would you say to them? What would you want them to know?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 1:06:28

You can definitely be a doctor if you want to be a doctor. The opportunities are out there. Stay in school. Stay in school. School will change your life. School will expose you to things you've never even imagined. I'd say definitely apply yourself. And it's always amazing to be able to see people who look like you do things that you want to do. And if you find that person, reach out, speak to them, hear from them, ask them questions. Don't be afraid to ask questions. People are always willing to share information. People are almost always willing to share information. So if you have that opportunity, definitely, definitely take it. And you can, you can. There's a lot of barriers, there's a lot of challenges, but eye on the prize, and I believe it can be definitely possible.

Final Reflections And Takeaway

Dr Maria Christodoulou 1:07:18

And for people who are listening who might want to engage with your content, where do they find you?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 1:07:24

I am available on almost all the social media platforms. So on Instagram and TikTok, I am dr_lethukwenama. That's Instagram and TikTok. On Facebook, I'm Dr. Lethukwenama Letsoalo. Same on YouTube, Dr. Lethukwenama Letsoalo. That's where I share a lot of my health education content, some of my career milestones and just general opinion pieces as well.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 1:07:49

And maybe I should also ask, what kind of content are they going to find? What sort of topics are you most passionate about? What are you speaking about most often? What are the things that they would learn?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 1:07:59

So I talk a lot about sexual reproductive health, which is one of my key areas of interest. So anything from HIV to STIs, safe sex practices, condom use, teenage pregnancies, endometriosis, which has been a big topic lately, fibroids is coming up very soon. Non-communicable diseases, which are very common in South Africa, haven't received as much attention as they deserve. And we're seeing a lot more of in young people. So hypertension, diabetes, obesity, hypercholesterolaemia. So that's high cholesterol. So those are the kinds of conditions I talk about. And then there may be adjacent topics like gout and others that people may request that aren't necessarily in these non-communicable diseases and sexual and reproductive health topics. But that's usually what my content is around and about.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 1:08:48

Well, I'm happy to share links to your social media platforms in the podcast notes. So if you want to share those with me, that would be great. I want to thank you for making the time to share your story. And as always, with these conversations, I'm aware that we've probably just skimmed the surface of what has shaped and defined your life and the choices you have made. But I'm grateful for the window and the insight that you've given us. And I wish you absolutely everything of the best in this next phase of your career. May the right opportunities come your way. May the doors open and may you have the courage to walk through them and have an impact on the world.

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 1:09:25

Oh, that's so beautiful. Thank you. I really appreciate that. And I enjoyed our conversation. Thanks so much. And yeah, I hope someone gets a few nuggets from this.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 1:09:35

Well, maybe I should ask you, what are you hoping they'll take away? What's the message you would like to leave people?

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 1:09:41

That everything does work out. We just need to keep our eye on the prize. And I guess in whatever we do, I keep asking myself, what difference am I making? What is the impact of my work?

Dr Maria Christodoulou 1:09:54

Wonderful. Thank you, Lethu.

Dr Lethukwenama Letsoalo 1:09:56

Thank you so much.

Dr Maria Christodoulou 1:09:59

I'm Dr. Maria Christodoulou, and you've been listening to the Awakening Doctor podcast. If you enjoyed this conversation, please share it with your friends, follow Awakening Doctor on Instagram, Facebook, and Spotify, and go to Apple Podcasts to subscribe, rate, and give us a good review. Thank you so much for listening.