Refiloe Masekela, MD, PhD
Associate Professor and Academic Head
Department of Paediatrics and Child Health
University of KwaZulu Natal
Durban, South Africa
Three statements about you - two true, one false.
- I enjoy endurance sports and am an adrenaline junkie who has swum with sharks and climbed Kilimanjaro.
- I am a mom of one seven-year-old boy, a hamster called Goodies and five well-behaved fish who can only be called survivors.
- I enjoy watching soccer and the Grand Prix in my spare time.
Give us your “elevator pitch” biography.
I am a pediatric pulmonologist by accident. Having started my career considering infectious diseases after looking after children at an HIV clinic, when anti-retroviral treatments were first made available in South Africa, I changed track once I saw the severe lung damage the children I looked after suffered. After a fellowship in pediatric pulmonology both in South Africa and in Leuven in Belgium, I decided to pursue a career as a clinician researcher and completed my PhD.
As the Academic Head of Paediatrics, I derive the most joy from the ability to mentor and train many pediatricians, medical students, nurses and allied health workers. Teaching is a family business with both my parents being educationalists and I find that this part of my job is the most fulfilling. As the co-director of the Pan African Thoracic Society MECOR program, I have had the privilege to meet, teach and mentor many students in the last 12 years to conduct lung health research. As a pediatrician, nurturing the next generation of scientist who can conduct high quality lung health research to answer critical, context specific scientific questions in Africa is a key goal.
What would you tell yourself as an early career professional?
Success comes from failure. You will learn the most about yourself from your failures rather than from your successes, embrace them and learn from them.
What is your favorite way to spend the day off?
An early morning long run or hike, followed by a very strong cup of coffee and spending the day outdoors with my son, concluded by a good thriller at night.
What areas of medicine are you most excited to see develop?
Unraveling the mystery of post-TB lung disease and strategies to prevent future lung impairment and having these interventions being cost-effective.
What is the one advancement in your field that you would like to see in your career?
Equitable access to preventative medicines especially vaccines for children and adults who need them. To shift focus from curative but prevention of disease.
Which statement is false in question one?
Statement three; I don’t watch television.
