Our Board Members
Dr Michelle Meiring
Board Chairperson
Dr Michelle Meiring is a Palliative Care Paediatrician who has worked in this field for 20 years. She is the founder and ex-CEO of Paedspal.
Michelle is the Head of Division of University of Cape town’s Paediatric Palliative Care, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, where she also convenes the Post-Graduate Diploma in Paediatric Palliative Care. She is an accomplished speaker and has presented at several local and international conferences.
She was also one of four editors of the latest edition of the Oxford Textbook on Palliative Care for Children. A long-standing child health and palliative care advocate since her “Paeds HIV-days”, Michelle chairs the national network for Children’s Palliative care known as PatchSA and has been involved at provincial and national levels in policy making in palliative care in South Africa.
Nave Naidoo
Treasurer
Nave Naidoo is a Chartered Accountant (SA) and senior finance executive with more than 20 years of leadership experience across the non-profit, healthcare and higher education sectors.
He currently serves as Finance & Operations Director at NACOSA and has extensive expertise in governance, risk management, donor-funded programmes and organisational sustainability. One of the reasons for joining Paedspal as its Treasurer, is wanting to support the Board in strengthening financial oversight and governance to ensure the organisation can continue advancing paediatric palliative care services in South Africa.
In his spare time, he enjoys travelling and spending time with family. He is also passionate about mentoring young finance professionals and supporting the development of future leaders in the non-profit and healthcare sectors.
Mariaan McKenzie
Board Member
Mariaan began her career in the financial sector, worked in the food and beverages industry, and holds a BCom Degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, a National Diploma in Marketing, a Diploma in Packaging Technology, and Certifications in Project Management, Graphic Design, and Six Sigma. She is pursuing a BCom Honours, with vision of qualifying as a grief counselor, focusing on bereaved parents in a work context.
During 2021, her son was admitted to RCWMCH, as he had reached his end-of-life stage due to a heart condition. Most of his six-month life was spent in hospitals, compounded by the rules and regulations of the Covid pandemic. The Paedspal team walked the last stretch of this journey with them. She is the Community Representative, serving as the voice of parents.
Most of her spare time is dedicated to a NPO established in memory of their dear son, Cayd.
Stefan Graebe
Board Member
Stefan’s career spans both academic, industrial, and entrepreneurial positions. He was awarded a Ph.D. in engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden in 1990.
After nearly two decades in various academic positions, followed by several executive positions in the oil and refining industry, he relocated to South Africa. He then trained with well-known coach, Martha Beck, in 2009 and has been working as an executive and personal coach since then.
Stefan joined Paedspal to share his experience in organisational development and strategy. In his spare time he particularly enjoys hiking and travelling with his wife.
Barbara Green-Thompson
Board Member
Barbara is an integral coach certified with the International Coaching Federation, who works in various roles enabling leadership capacity development. She is a qualified Palliative Care Nurse. She has previously worked as the Director of the Palliative Care Institute within the Hospice Palliative Care Association. Her role was to oversee the development and implementation of quality assured palliative care training programmes for public health practitioners.
She contributed to the accreditation of palliative care training programmes within the South African Nursing Council and the Health and Welfare SETA. This was preceded by a Masters in Public Health in Health Systems and Policy at Wits University. Barbara relocated in 2020 to join the UCT Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance and is currently conducting research in the division of Interdisciplinary and Palliative Care Medicine at UCT. She is passionate about innovative and creative methods for knowledge exchange, contributing to the building of happy, healthy and thriving communities.
Marc Hendricks
Board Member
Marc Hendricks is a paediatric oncologist at RCWMCH, and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at UCT. He is an internationally recognised clinician, researcher and educator with a special interest in childhood germ cell tumours. He leads South Africa’s national treatment guideline for paediatric germ cell tumours, co-leads the African Germ Cell Tumour Working Group and serves as Vice-Chairperson of the South African Association of Paediatric Haematology Oncology (SAAPHO). He was awarded his PhD by UCT in 2024.
As a member of the Paedspal Board, Marc brings more than 25 years of experience in paediatric oncology, research and medical education, together with a strong commitment to providing compassionate, comprehensive care for children with life-limiting conditions and their families.
Outside of medicine, Marc is a singer-songwriter, recording artist, enthusiastic cook and devoted dog dad.
Adelah Ederies
Board Secretary (Ex Officio)
Adelah Ederies (BComm) has over 10 years’ experience working in the corporate sector as a HR professional. She joined Paedspal in February 2016 as a HR and Financial Consultant and her main task then was to set up Paedspal’s HR, administrative and financial management systems.
Today, Adelah is our COO and oversees, manages and controls Paedspal’s ongoing business operations. She also ensures that there are effective admin procedures and reporting controls in place as well as sound financial and HR management. Adelah is the Paedspal Board Secretary. Always compassionate and thoughtful, Adelah has a difficult job, but manages to steer us beautifully with kindness.
Beverley Sebastian
Board Member Ex-Officio
Beverley holds a Master of Public Health from the University of the Western Cape, as well as undergraduate and honours degrees in Anthropology and Psychology from Rhodes University.