Priyanka Naidu, MBChB, MSc, is a medical doctor and aspiring pediatric reconstructive surgeon from Cape Town, South Africa. She studied at the University of Cape Town and went on to train at one of the world's largest hospitals, Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto. In 2019 she was awarded the National Research Foundation Scholarship and decided to take time out of her training to pursue a Masters in Global Surgery with a focus on national surgical planning and addressing barriers to safe surgery. She has presented her work at international conferences globally, including Bethune Round Table and the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress. Priyanka is interested in developing innovative solutions to scale-up surgical workforce capacity in low- and middle-income countries. Since joining Operation Smile as a Global Surgery Fellow in February 2020, she has been involved in education and training and health systems strengthening initiatives, and geospatial mapping of cleft care providers in Operation Smile's programmatic countries. Priyanka is a firm advocate for prioritizing safe surgery, and in 2015 was announced as one of South Africa's top 200 Young South Africans for her work in the healthcare sector. Her research has focused on prioritizing decentralized surgical care, evaluating surgical capacity in South Africa, assessing barriers to surgical care, and understanding the role of catastrophic health expenditure. More recently, her research has specifically focused on cleft surgery. Priyanka has always wanted her work as a plastic surgeon to involve increasing access to reconstructive surgical care in sub-Saharan Africa, where there is a tremendous need. The Operation Smile Global Surgery Fellowship has been inspiring and timely in applying her theoretical experience from her Masters' in Global Surgery to projects that require thoughtful design and implementation. It has also been an opportunity to engage with a network of renowned plastic surgeons and volunteers who share common goals. She plans to continue to provide and advocate for increased access to reconstructive surgical care, as a global surgery priority, in sub-Saharan Africa.
Education History[edit | edit source]
Summary[edit | edit source]
2020 - Present:
University[edit | edit source]
She received
Medical School[edit | edit source]
She then earned
Surgical Training[edit | edit source]
Dr. Naidu