Dr Victoria Howell

Clinical MicrobiologistMicrobiology / Virology

Dr Victoria (Vicky) Howell obtained her MBChB in 2000 at the University of Witwatersrand. Thereafter she moved back to her home province in KwaZulu Natal to do her internship in McCord Hospital in Durban. She then moved to a small rural community to serve her community service year at Mosvold Hospital, which is situated in Northern Kwazulu Natal on the Swaziland border within South Africa. In 2003 she went to Ngwelezana Hospital in Empangeni, Kwazulu Natal where she spent a year as a medical officer in anaesthetics and then 6 months in paediatrics. After that she worked as a medical officer in paediatrics in New Plymouth on the North Island of New Zealand. To further her knowledge of infectious diseases she completed her Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (DTM&H) at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in 2006. After returning to South Africa, she joined the University of Kwazulu Natal’s Microbiology Department where she completed a four-year specialist training in clinical microbiology. After twelve years working firstly as a specialist in the NHLS in the Pietermaritzburg Academic Complex, and then in private practice in Johannesburg, she joined PathCare microbiology department in March 2023 in the main reference laboratory in Cape Town N1 City.

She is involved in antimicrobial stewardship and infection control activities and conducts ward rounds in various hospitals around Cape Town. She regularly participates in academic meetings and CPD presentations on various topics of infectious diseases and antimicrobial usage.