Episode 7-Interview with Dr. Itumeleng Ntatamala

This episode we heard from Dr. Itumeleng Ntatamala, an Occupational Medicine Specialist and Senior Lecturer in the Occupational Medicine Division in the School of Public Health at University of Cape Town’s Faculty of Health Sciences. We talked about:  Dr. Itumeleng’s background and his current roles  What drew him to medicine, public health and then occupational health  How his interests in clinical care influenced his interest to do public health work  Defining occupational health and occupation medicine and how they sit under public health  The aim of occupational health  What occupational health looks like and the different types of workers and professionals who work in it  Examples of the types of work dealt with in occupational health  How he splits his time between clinical work, public health work, research and teaching  The wide range of patients and medical issues that they see and the different work industries they work with in occupational medicine Where Dr. Itumeleng finds the most joy and fulfillment in his work  The need for more people to be interested and work in Occupational health, in South Africa and beyond  COVID and its impact on occupational health  Different types of trainings that people can undergo to gain skills in and pivot to start working in occupational health  Why there is not as many people going into the field and being aware that the field of occupational health exists as a career path in public health  Challenges in limited opportunities for training in South Africa and in the region  How he defines public health and what public health means to him  Advice for anyone looking to go into medicine and/or public health  Following  your passion and taking it one step at a time Advice for those that might be interested specifically in pivoting into occupational health  Skills that he has found the most useful  Attending short courses in what you are interested  Reading more about occupational health  eg :International Labor Organization ILO https://www.ilo.org/global/lang--en/index.htm  Health & Safety Executive(HSE)  https://www.hse.gov.uk/  National Institute of Occupational Health SA (NIOH) https://www.nioh.ac.za/#  and local National Occupational health bodies  Areas that connect to occupational health eg psychology or social work or physiotherapy  Can reach out about programs to him on Linked in or via email at for questions about the field and programs