Miriam Mutebi, Breast Surgical Oncologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the Aga Khan University Hospital shared a post on X:
“Two exhausted surgeons. One WhatsApp group. One question: What if surgery didn’t have to feel this lonely?
That’s how Pan African Women’s Association of Surgeons began in 2015, over virtual coffee between two exhausted surgeons tired of being the only ones.
Dr. Khadija Warfa and I had just finished fellowship training. We were swapping war stories that felt all too familiar: the isolation, the often casual dismissal, the constant proving. And somewhere between the third cup of coffee, we asked: What if surgery didn’t have to feel this lonely?
Within hours of setting up that first WhatsApp group, five women became fifty. Within a year, we were over a hundred, spanning Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Cameroon, and beyond.
We soon discovered that African women surgeons weren’t actually that rare. We were just invisible to each other.
Once we found each other, everything changed and soon the group became a lifeline:
- ‘Is it just me, or do patients always assume you are everything but the surgeon?’ (Spoiler: It’s not just you.)
- Sharing strategies for difficult cases at 2am
- Pooling resources to send one member to training so she could teach the rest of us
- Celebrating wins no one else understood
I’ve spoken about PAWAS before. An organization built on a single truth: we’re stronger together than we ever were alone.
Today, we have over 200 members across 20+ African countries. We run webinars, mentorship programs, research collaboratives, and something we cheekily call ‘Gory Wednesdays.’
The real impact is seen in the medical student in Lagos who now believes surgery is possible. The resident in Nairobi who has a mentor who looks like her. The established surgeon in Accra who finally has colleagues who understand her journey.
And it started with a WhatsApp group.”
Other articles featuring Miriam Mutebi.