Sometimes, a career is shaped by a single encounter.
For Dr Chizoma Grainer, it started during his internship at Kitwe Central Hospital, where he had the opportunity to work alongside a Russian paediatric surgeon. That early exposure planted a seed that would stay with him.
Years later, during his second year of specialist training in General Surgery at the University of Zambia, the newly introduced Paediatric Surgery programme gave him the opportunity to revisit that interest.
He made the switch.
And he never looked back.
Today, Dr Chizoma is a Consultant Paediatric Surgeon at the University Teaching
But getting there was far from a straight line.
His medical journey took him from Kitwe Central Hospital to Mbereshi Mission Hospital in Kawambwa, then to Mwense District Health Office, and later Mansa General Hospital, working across different roles and settings within Zambia’s health system before eventually joining UTH for specialist training.
Each place brought different patients, different challenges and, importantly, different lessons.
Today, his clinical interests are particularly focused on abdominal surgery and endoscopy — areas where technical skill, careful judgement and attention to detail come together.
At the heart of his research interest is a simple but important question:
How can we improve surgical healthcare for children? –— asking how we can make paediatric surgical care better, safer and more accessible, and ultimately improve outcomes for children across Zambia and beyond.
When asked what he finds most rewarding, he doesn’t talk about dramatic saves or complex operations. He talks about something quieter — the awareness that even simple cases can turn.
The case that looks routine.
The patient who seems stable.
The operation you think you’ve seen a hundred times.
Then something changes.
For Dr Chizoma, those moments are the ones that matter most — they sharpen judgement, build humility, and remind you that experience is earned one case at a time.
Away from the operating theatre, He enjoys chess, soccer, computers and exploring the ever-changing digital world — a mix of strategy, fitness and curiosity
And when asked what advice he would give to aspiring paediatric surgeons, his answer comes down to something deceptively simple:
“Work hard and get exposed to cases in order to develop a sense of experience.”
No shortcuts. No grand speeches. No magic formula. Just keep showing up, keep learning, and let the experience accumulate.
Drop a comment for Dr Chizoma as he continues to contribute to the growing field of paediatric surgery in Zambia.