Ros Dowse BPharm, PhD

Ros lectured at Rhodes University from 1985 to 2012 in Pharmaceutics and Pharmacy Practice until she was medically boarded in 2015. During her 23-year history of recurrent head and neck cancer, she has endured many operations and treatments. In an operation in 2013, her jaw was removed and replaced with a shaped fibula bone from her leg. This was a key milestone in her life, as the outcomes of this major, complex 12-hour operation were life-changing, resulting in functional impairment with eating and swallowing and leaving her with compromised speech. As a result, she was unable to continue with lecturing fulltime. However, she has continued to supervise postgraduate students and contributes to the Faculty programme.

The 3-week 2013 hospital stay involved much unnecessary suffering which prompted her to make her voice heard as a patient. In a health communication context, Ros’ many in-hospital experiences over the years have enabled her ample opportunity to reflect on provider-patient communication and power differentials, along with the general treatment of patients by health professionals. She now acts as a patient advocate to the health professions, integrating her life roles of patient, researcher and health professional to provide much-needed insight into the incredibly challenging, functionally impaired lives of patients like her by presenting the patient perspective at head and neck cancer, maxillofacial rehabilitation, quality of life, and pharmacy conferences around the world. She particularly enjoys presenting to health professionals in training, and to fellow cancer patients.