Nelda is the founder and practice principal of Kintsugi Health. Her medical career meandered through anaesthesia, GP practice and emergency medicine, and took her from urban to rural to remote locations in both South Africa and Australia. While she enjoys the challenges of clinical medicine, she has always been drawn to a more holistic approach to patient care.

Her work with HIV-affected communities in South Africa has taught her that everyone has a story, and that our behaviours and our attitudes are intricately linked with our stories. Behaviour change and attitudinal shifts require acknowledgment and honouring of these stories. In starting Kintsugi Health in 2019, Nelda came full-circle, once again taking care of patients in the context of their life stories, rather than just their diagnosis.

Nelda is fascinated by the complex interplay between the gut, the brain, the mind, emotions and behaviour, and its effect on the body’s delicately balanced functional systems. Reading about the latest neuroscience and gut health research findings gives her great joy. She is passionate about treating the whole person, addressing root causes of symptoms, and helping patients take control of their health through sustainable behaviour change.

When she is not working, Nelda practices to one day become an artist and a guitarist. Her three horses are her therapists, and if she could live in the middle of a forest, she would have been a happy hermit.