Dr. Kathryn Chu has spent the past decade working on strengthening surgical capacity at district hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa. A colorectal surgeon, Chu is also a researcher and writer, her focus being the intersection between surgery and public health. She first moved to South Africa in 2007 and is currently professor and director of the Centre for Global Surgery at Stellenbosch University. She is the former vice-president of Médecins Sans Frontières-Southern Africa and on the board of directors of One to One Africa. Chu received her undergraduate degree at Stanford University in the United States of America (USA) in 1993 and graduated from the University of California-San Francisco School of Medicine, USA in 1999. She completed her general surgery residency there in 2005, having received a masters degree in public health in developing countries from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 2003. She was a colorectal fellow at the Lahey Clinic, USA, between 2005-2006, then joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, USA, as a colorectal surgeon in 2007.