Name: Siphosethu Zantsi
Role/Occupation: Physiotherapist
Country: South Africa
Siphosethu Zantsi is a physiotherapist working in the clinical setting and has experience in both the public and private sectors. Zantsi assesses and treats patients who have suffered injuries or have conditions that affect their movement and quality of life. She assists patients in improving their functional abilities or adapting their function in order for them to regain as much independence as possible, whilst also educating patients and assisting them by issuing appropriate assistive devices where necessary. She is also currently pursuing a master’s in child amputee research.
Zantsi's feels that while her work can be gruelling and involve unpredictable occurrences, such as the recent COVID-19 pandemic, she enjoys the challenge and is often encouraged to be innovative and think out of the box to effect change and work efficiently.
Her experience as a woman within her field has been pleasant as physiotherapy is highly dominated by women. However, she feels that there is the possibility of women being limited and not accessing the same opportunities in certain areas within the field, especially in the area of sports physiotherapy.
Zantsi believes that it is critical for women to join the STEM field to ensure “that this field and its innovative ideas and solutions are inclusive. It also creates incredible opportunities for other women to want to become involved, thereby not gatekeeping the STEM field and making progress.”
One of the highlights of her career was finding her passion within the space, through pursuing her master’s research in child amputees and also creating projects to assist in furthering the prosthetic and rehabilitation field, where there is a massive global gap of knowledge.
Read more about the inspiring Siphosethu Zantsi as she rises to face challenges and to think of innovative solutions within the noble field of physiotherapy.
Siphosethu Zantsi was interviewed by Dhruti Dheda, the founder of the African Steminist on behalf of Geeky Girl Reality. The full interview can be found here.
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