I’m Dr Caryn April, a specialised medical and interventional pain physician. I am passionate about inclusive, patient-centred care and chronic pain management.

I have practiced medicine for more than 15 years and have vast experience in pain medicine, emergency medicine and general surgery during my time at various government and private hospitals throughout South Africa.

I graduated from the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 2010 with a distinction in clinical and final clinical examinations. I won the class medal for surgery and the Donald Barnes prize for the top student in Urology in my final year of medical school. After graduating from UCT, I completed a two-year medical internship program at the Pietermaritzburg Hospital Complex in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).

I went on to do my community service at the Khayelitsha District Hospital in the emergency unit and completed my post-graduate Diploma in Primary Emergency Care in 2013. I practiced as a full-time emergency medicine practitioner for the Melomed Hospital Group for the next four years where I managed all types of surgical, medical and paediatric emergencies and assisted in the intensive care units (ICU).

In 2018, I decided to pursue surgery, first as a medical officer and then as a registrar in general surgery at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).  During that time, I obtained my primary examinations in general surgery, attended numerous surgical skills workshops and performed operations, emergency and elective, on patients up until 2021.

After losing my father to Covid-19 during the first wave in 2020, I decided to relocate to Cape Town to be closer to my family in February 2021. This life-changing event led me to pursue a career where I could still perform surgical procedures and have a good quality of life.

With pain being at the centre of every condition I have previously treated I discovered that I had the ability to manage this pain with minimally invasive interventional pain procedures. This led me to join the PAIN Collective in February 2021, where I further developed my skills and knowledge of interventional pain procedures.

I trained other doctors in these procedures and assisted with opening numerous pain clinics during my time there. I also attended cadaver skills workshops at Stellenbosch University, TrainPain academic courses, local and international World Institute of Pain congresses and workshops, to further advance my knowledge of chronic pain management and interventional pain procedures. I have previously presented my research in the form of two poster presentations at the PainSA Congress.

In 2024, I obtained my Fellowship in Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP) from the World Institute of Pain (WIP) after successfully completing my examinations in Istanbul, Tukey. This was truly a landmark milestone in my professional career, being one of only four South African women to do so. I attended my graduation ceremony in Budapest in August 2025, and it was wonderful to represent my country and to share this momentous occasion with my fellow WIP alumni from around the world.

I am also pleased to announce that I was nominated and elected as the Secretary for the WIP Africa Section for the 2025-2027 period. I would like to thank my local and international colleagues who have expressed their confidence in my leadership and commitment to advancing WIP’s mission in South Africa and the African continent. As a newly elected section officer, I will play an essential role in strengthening member engagement, supporting educational activities and ensuring alignment with WIP policies and procedures.