Dr. Phakamile Madikiza was born at Palmeton Methodist Mission at Lusikisiki, Transkei, South Africa. Today, in addition to his own private practice, he has been on staff since 1985 as consultant Paediatrician and Neonatologist at Centenary Health Centre, Scarborough, Ontario. Dr. Madikiza earned his medical degree (MB.ChB.) from the University of Natal, South Africa. Before completing Residency Training at British Columbia’s Children’s Hospital (1980-84), Dr. Madikiza also had Paediatric Residency Training at the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa, and the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. While a Neonatology Fellow at the University of Manitoba, he qualified as a Paediatric Specialist and was admitted to the Specialist Registrar of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada. A humanitarian whose service is tireless, Dr. Madikiza, among other matters, is currently involved in teaching medical students at the Centenary Health Centre which is one of the satellite teaching hospitals for University of Toronto medical undergraduate students. A former refugee himself, Dr. Madikiza has a broad understanding of the plight of displaced people. His work with paediatric patients with Sickle Cell Anemia has enabled him to contribute to the improvement of conditions and care and support for Sickle Cell patients and their families. As a volunteer mentor for the Advancement of Visible Minorities in Health Sciences (since1995), he addresses students in high schools and has a high school student work with him at his office or hospital during the summer. Since 1991, Dr. Madikiza has been a Board Member of the Evergreen Hospice. This volunteer organization works with patients and their families to ease the distress that is so often associated with terminal illness and bereavement. His wife Dorcas, also from South Africa, is a teacher with the Toronto District School Board and is a Board Member of the Canadian Council of South Africans as well as South African Women for Women. [Photo, courtesy Dr. Phaks Madikiza] |