With An Unplanned Pregnancy At Age 18 Which Almost Derailed Her Dreams, Lady Becomes Zimbabwe’s First Female Transplant Surgeon

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With An Unplanned Pregnancy At Age 18 Which Almost Derailed Her Dreams, Lady Becomes Zimbabwe’s First Female Transplant Surgeon

Meet – Dr Praise Matemavi, Zimbabwe’s first female Transplant Surgeon. With an unplanned pregnancy at the age of 18 that threatened to derail her dream of one day becoming a surgeon, she never gave up.

“It was devastating, I became pregnant when I was 18 out of wedlock and ended up getting married,” said Dr Matemavi. “I didn’t know how I was going to ever fulfil my dream.

It was sad because that was the one time I saw my dad cry. I got married because I thought that it was the best thing to do,” she added.

Being involved in an unplanned marriage, Dr Matemavi ended up enduring physical, mental and emotional abuse. She got divorced at the age of 23, with four-year-old and two-year-old children. As a single mother of two, she put herself through medical school. Against all odds she fought her way to the top in a male-dominated field despite hearing discouraging comments like, “Girls don’t belong in an operating room,” from some attending physicians. Dr Matemavi finished her surgery traini

Dr Matemavi finished her surgery training at New York Presbyterian Queens Hospital and she is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, USA.

Source: LinkedIn

Email: elora.akpotosevbe@yahoo.com