Dr’s Angus Byers, Jessica Kew, Anmari van Dyk, and Elle Visser joined the MMed (Psychiatry) programme in February 2022.
Dr. Byers completed his MBChB at Stellenbosch University in 2012, thereafter he did his two years of internship at the East London Hospital Complex.
From 2015 to 2017 Dr Byers worked at Kimberley Hospital as a Medical Officer in the Emergency Medicine and Adult ICU departments. He also completed his DipPEC while working in the Department of Emergency Medicine.
From mid-2018 until early 2022 Dr. Bryers had the privilege of working in the Acute Adult Male and Female wards as well as receiving exposure to Community Psychiatry clinics as a Medical officer at Stikland Hospital. In 2020 he completed his MMed primary exams and began his registrar journey at Tygerberg Hospital in February 2022.
Dr. Kew completed her MBChB at the University of Cape Town in 2014. Thereafter she spent 2 years completing her internship at the Pietermaritzburg Hospital Complex and one year in Kimberley completing her community service at West End Psychiatric Hospital. She spent some time in private practice in Johannesburg while preparing for and writing the Diploma in Mental Health exam in 2019. When the opportunity came to work as a Medical Officer at Fort England Hospital, Grahamstown, she leaped at it! There she gained an appreciation for the challenges of providing mental health care in rural Eastern Cape and developed an immense love for the community she served and the passionate colleagues she worked with. She moved to Cape Town in 2021 with her husband and two rescue dogs. She spent some time working in Psychiatry at Karl Bremer and Groote Schuur Hospitals before starting training as a registrar in February 2022.
“Mental health has always been a love of mine, and I always knew it was what I wanted to pursue as my medical career. It is a varied field with much complexity and demands a lot of one. It is an immense privilege to work with patients and be invited into their inner worlds. Every day is a chance to grow and learn and there is never a dull moment.”
Dr. Visser (Craig) joined the program in 2022 after spending time in rural healthcare, primary care, district psychiatry, and neurological rehabilitation. Her interests lie within the vastness of neuropsychiatry and forensic psychiatry, and hopes to gain knowledge and experience which will ultimately shape her into a more versatile mental health care practitioner.’
“I am very grateful that I can pursue what I believe is a calling in psychiatry and mental healthcare. The evidence shows that there is an ever-increasing need for access to mental healthcare services and I am privileged to be able to play a part in addressing this much-needed healthcare requirement.”
Dr. van Dyk received her MBChB from Stellenbosch University. She then completed her internship at Tygerberg Hospital which was followed by her community service year at Dr. Harry Surtie Hospital in Upington. While working there she realised the immense need for and lack of mental health services in the district. She thus took over the care of the mental health inpatients and did outreach to the rural clinics with the district mental health sister. Thereafter she worked in a contract position at Stikland Hospital for two years.
What makes her interested in psychiatry is the transformation that occurs when a patient with a mental illness gets stabilised on treatment. “It is as if mental health care users are provided with a second chance at living a well-balanced life.” She hopes to use the knowledge and skills obtained in the MMed (Psych) to provide high-quality mental health services to rural populations.