For most doctors in training, obstetrics is hectic and too busy, but for Dr Felicia Molokoane it is a calling. Her bold career choice has led to her being part of groundbreaking research on the effects of HIV treatment on the growth of babies.

“When I did my internship, none of the others wanted to do obstetrics,” she says while reminiscing on being given a choice of departments at a busy district hospital early on in her career. “I chose it and I felt welcome - I belonged in the department.”

Molokoane’s journey begins during her early years as an undergraduate at the then University of Natal (now the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN)). There she was inspired to focus on obstetrics and HIV at a time when the disease was still steeped in stigma and denialism in South Africa.

Describing herself as “short and tiny”, Molokoane never imagined herself conducting vaginal examinations and dealing with HIV-positive mothers as an obstetrician. That all changed when Professor Moodley encouraged her in her third year at the University of Natal.

“The interest started because the professor paid so much attention to teaching me these things,” she says.

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