Yulisha Naidoo

Six years ago, I started on my journey into Public Health and Health Economics. 

I was steered in this direction after being employed by a dental insurance company as a Managed Care Consultant. 

As a clinician, being on the purchasing side of healthcare has drastically changed my perspective. It was then that I decided to study Health Economics to help me better understand the intricacies of healthcare financing. Working for a medical insurance company has opened up my views on health care purchasing and promotion, but more importantly it taught me the imperative value of a good team with varied skills. 

Shortly after, I had the opportunity to become a private practitioner. My practice, Hope Smiles Dental, is steeped in patient education, health promotion and prevention and patient autonomy. In the last few years, I have also created an Oral Health education programme, targeting nurses and employees in the industrial suburb of Montague Gardens. 

In the last few years, I have also created an Oral Health education programme, in a bid to try to improve oral health and the patient attendance in the area. 

The time and effort it took to put in protocols and social media marketing as well as advertising has shown me the value of the interactions that one makes with the User, whether in person or over a device. 

The best parts of my day is the time I take interacting with patients, I find communication to be one of my strongest attributes and relationship building to be another. I must also add that besides business and studies, I am also wife and a mother of three amazing kids, which means that time management and preparation is an asset that I cannot afford to go without. 

During my studies and especially during health promotion, I had come to the realisation that as a dental practitioner I can only effect the lives of as many people that are willing to listen, but as a health economist I could potentially effect the health policy and essentially the quality of life of an entire country. I would appreciate the opportunity to start a career in clinical research or health economics. 

Dental Therapist/Owner | Hope Smiles Dental  October 2016 - Present 

Oral Health Education Programme | Hope Smiles Dental January 2018 - January 2020 

Managed Care Consultant| Dental Information Systems (DENIS)  January 2016 - September 2016 

Bachelor of Dental Therapy, awarded by the University of Kwa Zulu Natal, April 2011. 

Post Graduate Diploma in Health Economics awarded by the University of Cape Town, March 2023. 

Masters Degree in Public Health - Health Economics Track, to be awarded by the University of Cape Town. The degree is currently underway.