Founder

Associate Professor Jennifer Thomas, better known as Jenny, is the former principal specialist and Head of Paediatric Anaesthesia at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital. The hospital is the only dedicated child health institution in South Africa and offers a comprehensive range of specialist paediatric services to children. The hospital is affiliated with the University of Cape Town (UCT) and is a centre of excellence for the training of all categories of child health professionals. 

The Paediatric Pain Management Department provides anaesthesia services for all the major surgical disciplines including cardiac surgery, liver transplantation and conjoint twin separation. 

Assoc. Prof. Thomas has spent more than 25 years in the field of paediatric anaesthesia, mostly at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital. As associate professor in paediatric anaesthesia, Jenny is the first female professor in the UCT Department of Anaesthesia. 

She has a special interest in pain management and procedural sedation, burns anaesthesia, and pain and cardiothoracic anaesthesia. Her department takes responsibility for a large and varied neonatal and general surgical caseload. Over her career, she has gained unparalleled experience in the management of conjoined twins and has written extensively about this. Teaching and training at all levels is also one of her passions and this allows her department to take a leading role in professional development and workforce training for the whole of the African continent.

She still provides expert opinion consultation for both Anaesthesia and Pain Management.