Spotlight Interview with Dr. Nokulunga Shabalala, PhD

Location: Johannesburg, South Africa

Bio: Dr. Nokulunga Shabalala is clinical psychologist and a senior lecturer who works at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). She obtained her PhD from Stellenbosch University in 2019, becoming the youngest PhD graduate to work at UJ’s psychology department that year. Between August 2023 and November 2023, she was hosted by Boston Medical Center as a visiting scholar after being selected for the highly competitive Fulbright Scholar Program. Her project was entitled: “Closing the curriculum gap for substance use disorders and co-occurring HIV in the training of psychologists in limited-resource areas in South Africa”. Her current focus is on transformation and decoloniality in psychology and higher education, promoting best practices in mental health for the African diaspora, and critical race studies.

Beginnings

Dr. Shabalala’s interest in clinical psychology and higher education started early, and her current interests lie in contributing to mental health research and innovation in South Africa. Her passion for mental health research began during her time as an undergraduate student when she discovered an interest in the field of clinical psychology. She describes sitting in class, and feeling as if there was a “resonance that was very authentic to me as a person”, even beyond the attraction she felt for general psychology. At the same time, she was also interested in the concept of higher education for public good.

In 2016, as she began her doctoral studies, she became increasingly interested in barriers to health care. She observed that the majority of doctors only spoke English or Afrikaans, but the majority of South Africans spoke a different language. This prompted her to ask questions as to why this particular phenomenon occurred, and to look deeper at how doctors were being trained and the impact of race on training. As a result, she also began a journey of self-reflection.

Internal and External Barriers

As a new student in the doctoral program, Dr. Shabalala describes occasionally experiencing feelings of inadequacy. She explains that most psychologists in South Africa do not go to school to get their PhD; instead, they typically stop after they get their masters, as a PhD is not required for clinical practice and registration. However, as a black woman, she was worried that she would be taken less seriously or thought of as a diversity hire. She explains that “there’s this idea of, you know, if you’re black, if you’re a woman, you have to work ten times harder. Given that kind of thinking that I had at the time and the gross inferiority complex that I had, I felt like I needed that step forward and to do a doctoral degree”. During her time in the program, her research focused on transformation and decoloniality in psychology and higher education. She notes, “The beautiful thing about going into the PhD journey was that I was, you know, I was particularly looking at the experiences of black people at two institutions… And there was sort of the parallel process of me reflecting on my own journey through higher education and looking at their journeys through medical school”. As a result, her PhD journey ended up being not only academically enriching, but also emotionally lifting.

She observed that among black medical specialists in training at the two universities she recruited from, there were many challenges to increasing access to medical services for people of color, including feelings of distrust towards doctors and addiction medicine from their patients. In order to combat this barrier, she emphasized the importance of representation, and how it can be a useful tool to build trust between healthcare providers and the communities they serve.

Next Steps

Her academic journey continued even after she finished her PhD, as she was awarded the Fulbright Scholar Award, a program that supports scholars in traveling to other countries to share their research and experience. It was this program that allowed Dr. Shabalala to visit Boston Medical Center/Boston University, and she lists the experience as one of the most memorable in her academic journey.  While here, she worked closely with Drs. David Henderson, Maria Prom, and Sarah Valentine, and she expresses gratitude for the mentorship she received. Upon returning to South Africa, she plans on continue to fostering active collaboration: “We have a project plan in place looking at and adapting a substance use curriculum but making it sort of context relevant in South Africa, we don't really have that yet, particularly in psychology.”

Closing Thoughts

In her closing remarks, Dr. Shabalala states that for her, “exposure to different ways of being has been enlightening and enriching.” She encourages others to step out of their comfort zone: “The moment you are challenged, and you have to get out of your natural context, country and faith, given the chance to get exposure, get out and see what's out there and come home and make it better.”

By Eshna Master, March 2024