Juliet Sekabunga Nalwanga is a physician from

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

, who is the country's first female

neurosurgeon Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty concerned with the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and peri ...

. As of 2021 she was one of only thirteen neurosurgeons in Uganda. As of 2018 she was employed by

Mulago National Referral Hospital Mulago National Specialised Hospital, also known as Mulago National Referral Hospital, is a component of Mulago Hospital Complex, the teaching facility of Makerere University College of Health Sciences. It is the largest public hospital in Ug ...

in Kampala.

Background and education

She is Ugandan by birth. Her father is the late Professor Sekabunga, a well-known pediatric surgeon, who practiced at

in the 1970s and 1980s. She also had a maternal aunt who was a physician. She credits that aunt for paying her school fees and being the inspiration to pursue medicine as a career. She went on to study medicine at

Mbarara University Mbarara University of Science & Technology (MUST), commonly known as Mbarara University, is a public university in Uganda. Mbarara University commenced student intake and instruction in 1989. It is one of the ten public universities and degree ...

, followed by internships at the same institution, and at

Lira Regional Referral Hospital Lira Regional Referral Hospital, commonly known as Lira Hospital, is a hospital in Lira in the Northern Region of Uganda. It is the referral hospital for the districts of Amolatar, Apac, Dokolo, Lira, Kole, and Oyam. Location Lira Hospita ...

. She returned to Mbarara University to pursue a

Master of Medicine Master of Medicine (MMed) is a postgraduate professional clinical degree awarded by medical schools to physicians following a period of instruction, supervised clinical rotations, and examination. The degree usually takes three years to complete, ...

degree in Surgery, the first woman to do so. She was then admitted to

Makerere University Makerere University, Kampala (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922. It became an independent national university in 1970. Today, Makerere University is composed of ni ...

to pursue a neurosurgical residency at Mulago National Referral Hospital, graduating in 2018. She then spent a year specialising in paediatric neurosurgery at The Hospital for Sick Children, the teaching hospital of the

University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine The Temerty Faculty of Medicine (previously Faculty of Medicine) is the medical school of the University of Toronto. Founded in 1843, the faculty is based in Downtown Toronto and is one of Canada's oldest institutions of medical studies, being k ...

, in Toronto, Canada. One of her Ugandan mentors was the late John Baptist Mukasa (1967 - 2021).

Career

Following the completion of her neurosurgery fellowship in Toronto, Canada, she returned to Uganda and took up employment at

as a consultant pediatric neurosurgeon and as an assistant lecturer in neurosurgery at

Makerere University School of Medicine The Makerere University School of Medicine (MUSM), also known as the Makerere University Medical School, is the school of medicine of Makerere University, Uganda's oldest and largest public university. The medical school has been part of Makerer ...

References

External links

Juliet Sekabunga, neurosurgeon, discusses the principles of managing traumatic brain injury
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sekabunga Nalwanga, Juliet Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Ugandan women surgeons Women neuroscientists Ugandan neurosurgeons 21st-century women physicians Mbarara University alumni Makerere University alumni University of Toronto alumni