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 set on becoming a paediatric oncologist even in her teens. Life, however, had other plans.

In this episode of Awakening Doctor, we reflect on the early childhood influences that catalysed her passion and learn about her challenging personal journey with medicine. One marked by years of perseverance, repeated rejections, and the courage to keep pivoting in the midst of thwarted ambitions.

Together, we explore her postgraduate medical school experience and reflect on the harsh realities she faced as a young COVID intern. Bianca speaks candidly about signing multiple death certificates on her first day as a doctor, the fear of bringing the virus home, the difficult decision to postpone her wedding, and the wise friends and small rituals that helped carry her through that time.

We also reflect on how motherhood has changed the way she practices medicine, and explore the grief and frustration of having to let go her dream of specialising due to a lack of registrar posts. An unforeseen obstacle that eventually forced her to formulate a Plan B.

Today, Bianca runs a thriving GP practice for children in Cape Town, allowing her to reframe her vocation and honour her passion in ways she didn't anticipate.

If you’ve ever wondered whether being “just a GP” can serve a calling, or how to rebuild a dream when doors are closed and posts are frozen, this episode is for you. Join us for a thought-provoking reflection on the complex interplay between vocation, ambition, individual agency and systemic realities.

Send us a text

Support the show

If you enjoy these conversations and would like to support this work, please consider donating to our podcast fund using the link above. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and keep bringing you great content. No amount is too small and your support means the world to us. Thank you for listening!

Host:
Dr Maria Christodoulou

Follow us on Social Media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/awakeningdoctor/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AwakeningDoctor

Website: https://www.awakeningdoctor.com/podcast

Disclaimer: The views and experiences shared are those of the individual guest and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or the Awakening Doctor podcast. All accounts are personal and have not been independently verified. No responsibility is assumed for the accuracy or completeness of the information shared.

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 & Guardian's 50 most powerful women in 2022, she is a pioneering researcher in breast and endocrine surgery, and the first female Head of the Department of Surgery at the University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital. A human rights activist committed to equitable healthcare for all.

In this episode of Awakening Doctor, we reflect on the intersection between the professional and the political in her personal story. Lydia speaks candidly about the importance of self-awareness in leadership, the invisible labour women often carry, and the identity shifts that motherhood demanded of her in a system not designed for breastfeeding or work-life balance.

Together, we explore her ongoing struggle to define the margins of burnout and reflect on her vision for a surgical department where people are seen, gifts are valued, and bureaucracy doesn't suffocate passion. Along the way, we dismantle tired stereotypes of surgeons and consider what it means to remain hopeful in a system stretched by austerity.

Join us for a thought-provoking conversation with a leader who is profoundly practical, fiercely optimistic and unapologetically feminine in her bid to change the world.

Send us a text

Support the show

If you enjoy these conversations and would like to support this work, please consider donating to our podcast fund using the link above. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and keep bringing you great content. No amount is too small and your support means the world to us. Thank you for listening!

Host:
Dr Maria Christodoulou

Follow us on Social Media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/awakeningdoctor/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AwakeningDoctor

Website: https://www.awakeningdoctor.com/podcast

Disclaimer: The views and experiences shared are those of the individual guest and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or the Awakening Doctor podcast. All accounts are personal and have not been independently verified. No responsibility is assumed for the accuracy or completeness of the information shared.

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 our institutions to better serve our communities?

For Professor Tasleem Ras, family physician, educator, researcher, and Head of UCT's Department of Family, Community and Emergency Care, these questions lie at the heart of the academic endeavour.

In this episode of Awakening Doctor, Prof Ras shares his personal story and reflects on the pivotal moments that have shaped his career: the epiphany that surgery would not fulfil a deeper calling; building a family practice in his childhood community; the difficult decision to leave clinical practice for academia; and managing the CTICC Hospital of Hope during the COVID-19 pandemic – a time when shared vulnerability created unprecedented unity and humanised care.

Together, we explore the lessons he learned from working in under-resourced communities, the existential and ideological tensions facing healthcare today, and the vital role of faith, trust, and humility in medicine.

Through each transition and reflection, Prof. Ras’s philosophy becomes clear: medical education must balance technical competence with empathy and wisdom, must recognise the knowledge that resides in communities, and honour the sacred dimensions of healing.

Join us for a thought-provoking reminder that education, at its best, is an act of hope - shaping not only better doctors, but a better world for us all.

Send us a text

Support the show

If you enjoy these conversations and would like to support this work, please consider donating to our podcast fund using the link above. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and keep bringing you great content. No amount is too small and your support means the world to us. Thank you for listening!

Host:
Dr Maria Christodoulou

Follow us on Social Media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/awakeningdoctor/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AwakeningDoctor

Website: https://www.awakeningdoctor.com/podcast

Disclaimer: The views and experiences shared are those of the individual guest and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or the Awakening Doctor podcast. All accounts are personal and have not been independently verified. No responsibility is assumed for the accuracy or completeness of the information shared.