Professor Sharon Kling from the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health will start her retirement soon – but she's showing no signs of slowing down.
In fact, Kling, who is an associate professor and head of the Clinical Unit for General Paediatrics will be as busy as ever, post retirement.
Her retirement will mark the end of a career that has seen her involved in numerous aspects of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) – not only as a paediatrician and lecturer, but also as a member of the Women's Forum, an Equality Champion and as a key contributor to the role of ethics in the medical profession. Not to mention her role in looking after the “feral" chickens and cats who live on the Tygerberg campus – even seeing to their needs during the strictest period of lockdown.
Kling, who was recently awarded the status of Emeritus Associate Professor at the university, said she has mixed feelings about her retirement. “I don't feel ready to retire, quite honestly," she said, adding that she will stay on part time at the university and remain involved in a number of ways.
“I also have a part-time appointment in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health to assist with undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and supervision, and depending on funding, I might do some ethics research with the Centre for Medical Ethics and Law. But my main job this year is to finish my PhD on Clinical Ethics Consultation and Committees in South Africa," she said.
Kling was born in Paarl and spent her whole school career at La Rochelle Girls School in Paarl. A top achiever who loved mathematics and science, she was initially keen on a career in pure science, but her uncle, Sidney Cywes, who was head of Paediatric Surgery at the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital and the University of Cape Town (UCT), encouraged her to study medicine.
She completed her medical degree at UCT in 1979 and her Diploma in Child Health (DCH) in 1983, followed by her FCP (Paed) from the College of Medicine of South Africa in 1987, and her MMed (Paed) from UCT in 1993.
In 2008, she completed an MPhil in Applied Ethics cum laude, from Stellenbosch University with her thesis entitled 'HIV in the Paediatric ICU – An Ethical Challenge'.
Besides her other roles, Kling is also head of the Paediatric Allergy Clinic. She is a member of the Tygerberg Hospital Clinical Ethics Committee and vice chair of the Undergraduate Research Ethics Committee at the FMHS. She is also a past president of the College of Paediatricians of South Africa.
Her career included internships at the Groote Schuur and Red Cross hospitals, which she loved; a two-year stint as medical officer in the Medical Outpatients' department at the Red Cross Hospital, followed by work as a registrar in paediatrics and child health at the Red Cross and allied hospitals, and senior registrar in allergy service and developmental paediatrics.
In 1991, she became a specialist and then a senior specialist in the department of Paediatrics and Child Health at Stellenbosch University (SU) and Tygerberg Children's Hospital and, in 2012 was appointed as Associate Professor at SU. She has held the position of Associate Professor and Clinical Unit Head, General Paediatrics since 2013.
She has also worked as a part-time lecturer in the Centre for Medical Ethics and Law; written numerous articles, papers and book chapters; participated in organising major conferences; and received a number of awards and grants.
Asked about some of the highlights of her career, she said there were many. “My involvement in ethics has been a tremendous love which will endure. My other big interests are allergy and asthma which opened up many opportunities to me. A real highlight was serving on the executive committee of the Allergy Society and becoming secretary, and then chairperson of the society. In the early days allergy was seen as a 'Cinderella' section of medicine … and I had to work hard with a number of my allergy colleagues to get it recognised.
“Another highlight was being elected to the Council of the College of Paediatricians of South Africa in 1999. I served three terms as secretary and became president in 2014. During this period the Colleges of Medicine made a huge difference in the standards of postgraduate examinations across all specialties."
A low point was in May 2013 when her close colleague and fellow paediatrician, Dr Louis Heyns, was murdered. “His death was a terrible loss which impacted me personally as well as our whole department," said Kling.
Another low point was Covid-19 which meant that, in her last year of service, she was unable to work at the coalface because of her age and being considered high risk. “I was able to get peripherally involved with the Covid-19 care team to support staff and patients," she said.
Turning to her abiding interest in ethics, Kling said when she first arrived at Tygerberg as a consultant in the paediatric intensive care unit, she noticed how the unit was faced with real dilemmas “especially considering that we had so few beds at the time." During the early days of HIV, we didn't have access to ARVs and had to make difficult decisions on the admission of children to ICU."
In 2004, she enrolled for an MPhil in Applied Ethics and she completed the degree in 2008. Her work led to her involvement in Tygerberg Hospital's clinical ethics committee and in the Undergraduate Research Ethics Committee at the FMHS.
When she is not working, Kling loves reading and being in nature. She also loves visiting game reserves and birding.
Looking back on her career, and asking herself the question, would she do it all again, her answer is a resounding 'yes'.
