Aspro. Palesa Motshabi

Palesa Motshabi is a South African anaesthesiologist and academic researcher whose work focuses on perioperative care in resource-limited settings. Affiliated with leading academic hospitals in South Africa, her scholarship advances safe anaesthesia practices across paediatric, obstetric, and cardiac populations, with particular attention to health systems strengthening in Africa.

Her recent contributions include collaborative research in The Lancet examining surgical outcomes for children in Africa, highlighting disparities in postoperative complications and mortality and advocating system-level improvements. She has also led work on a nurse-led preoperative screening tool to optimise specialist resources, reflecting a commitment to pragmatic, context-responsive innovation.

Motshabi’s publications further explore neonatal anaesthesia for congenital anomalies, obstetric haemorrhage management, cardiac surgery–associated organ injury, and clinician wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, her research demonstrates expertise in perioperative risk, multidisciplinary care, and improving patient safety in high-burden environments.