The School of Clinical Medicine has paid tribute to Dr Nombuso Mathe for her commitment to patient advocacy and leadership in the Discipline of Ophthalmology. Mathe has been instrumental in improving service provision in hospitals, and advancing research in the Department.
‘She is very passionate about patient advocacy and leadership in ophthalmology and the public sector, while her research interests lie in the pathophysiology and surgical management of glaucoma. As a result of her commitment, McCord Hospital’s services have improved and a new urgency has been injected into our research,’ said Dr Carl-Heinz Kruse – Acting Head of the Department of Ophthalmology at UKZN.
Mathe is a senior consultant and a Deputy Head of the Clinical Unit at McCord Hospital in Durban. She completed her undergraduate studies at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine in 2004 and joined the South African Military Health Services as a member of the permanent force. She served as a medical officer at military bases in KwaZulu-Natal and as part of a peace-keeping mission in Burundi. She then joined the Ophthalmology department at Addington Hospital, and completed her training as an ophthalmology specialist in 2015. In the earlier years of her career, she pursued her interest in high volume cataract surgery through Africa Vision, and worked as a consultant at Ngwelezane, McCord and Greys Hospitals.
Mathe set up her private practice in Gauteng, where she also taught final-year Optometry students at the University of Johannesburg. She was involved in teaching programmes run by district health services in the Sedibeng municipality, and served as a sessional consultant at Sebokeng Hospital. She completed 13 months of sub-speciality training in adult and paediatric glaucoma through a fellowship at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, United Kingdom.
Words: Lihle Sosibo
Photograph: Supplied
