In 2015, Dr Maurine Musie became the first black African student to obtain a Bachelor of Nursing Science cum laude from the University of Pretoria (UP), as well as a Golden Key International honorary membership.

And the 29-year-old isn’t done breaking barriers. Soon after completing her master’s in Advanced Midwifery and Neonatal Sciences in 2018, Dr Musie enrolled for a PhD, which she completed in record time in 2023, becoming the youngest holder of PhD in nursing sciences at UP. That title has been endorsed by the National Research Foundation and Dr Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology.  

Dr Musie’s PhD dissertation, titled ‘Developing a framework for collaboration between midwives and indigenous midwives for maternal and childcare services in South Africa’, examines the unheeded state of care in the country. The completion of her doctorate is more impressive when you consider the challenges that she has faced.

“The COVID-19 pandemic presented a challenge to my research, and I found myself having to work under a lot of constraints,” recalls Dr Musie, who is an advanced midwife specialist and lectures in midwifery in UP’s Department of Nursing in the Faculty of Health Sciences.

Dr Musie with her students 

On top of that, she was involved in a car accident during her doctoral studies.

“I persevered, and did not allow those hardships to derail me from my goals,” she says. “Hard work, prayer, resilience and time management skills helped me complete my PhD degree in record time.”

Dr Musie, who hails from a small village in Venda called Ngovhela, believes she was “called” to be a nursing educator, and entrusted to play a role in shaping the knowledge and skills of future midwives.

As for her studies, she says choosing to further them at UP was a no-brainer.

“UP is renowned for its academic excellence and research-intensive approach,” she says. “It has a strong reputation for research and innovation, and the degrees offered are internationally recognised.”  

Dr Musie adds that UP provides a platform for networking with professionals, alumni, international scholars and industry experts.

“The platforms have been crucial to my career development and postgraduation opportunities,” she says.

She believes that alumni have a responsibility to give back to fellow alumni and students.

As such, Dr Musie is dedicated to fostering growth in the scientific community by going beyond her role as lecture, and being a mentor. She has supervised six master’s students to completion, and is currently supervising 14 master’s students and two PhD candidates.

Additionally, she is part of groundbreaking research to enhance the scope of the practice of midwifes by initiating point-of-care ultrasound training for them in South Africa.

“The project is expanding across the globe,” she explains. “The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation approached the National Department of Health to train midwives on ultrasound care and deploy 500 free butterfly ultrasound machines. The project will take place in six provinces in South Africa. I will be representing Gauteng and will be part of the members that will be training the midwives.” 

In the coming years, Dr Musie plans to start her postdoctoral fellowship project funded by the Research Foundation Programme aimed to develop a midwifery educator continuing professional development programme implementing skilled birth attendance, provision of emergency obstetrics and newborn care.