Janine Raubenheimer love three things: family, medicine and learning more. She continues to balance these with remarkable dexterity. “Starting my own practice from scratch while being pregnant with my second child - that was the most difficult and challenging time of my life, but I pushed through and now have a beautiful daughter and a growing practice”. Janine graduated from the University of Pretoria in 2009, and went on to obtain diplomas in HIV management and Child Health at the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa. She completed her internship and community service at Kimberley Hospital from 2010 to 2012, and started working in private practice in 2014.Now, as one of Pretoria’s preeminent professionals, she combines her passions for helping, teaching and learning daily.
“I believe in getting people to understand their illness, how they’ll get better, and empowering them to become their healthiest selves.". Janine candidly discusses the challenges of healthcare regulations and protocols that limit doctor-patient face time. On the upside, many people have wider access to better care, but Janine stresses the importance of a thorough, holistic approach - preventing illness and treating the whole person, rather than simply writing a quick script to treat a symptom. She emphasizes integrative options and thinking bigger.
Janine continues to build on her education through the Institute of Integrative Medicine of South Africa and My Sexual Health, and through Student Health at the University of Pretoria. She loves witnessing the difference good health can make in people’s lives, learning new things every day, and using this to improve people’s quality of life. “One good thing: people are starting to take more responsibility of their own health - doing some research and reading up and taking part in decision making”. In her downtime, Janine enjoys reading, writing, playing with her kids and her two Scottish terriers, taking walks in the park, and pilates. She also listens to a wide range of podcasts - everything from Joe Rogan to the Happiness Lab with Dr Laurie Santos, to Enneagram Cast and Happy Hormones.
I believe in empowering people to take care of their own health, and in treating every patient as an individual. Health is not merely the absence of disease, but a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing. As a doctor, mother, wife, and human, this is one of the principles I try to incorporate in my life and work.
I have a special interest in integrative hormonal medicine and sexual health and want to help women of all ages balance their hormones in order to optimise their health, be more resilient and thrive. I just love figuring out the complexities of hormones and neurotransmitters to help you back to health, wellness and recovery.
My first few years as a doctor were spent in both Kimberley and Pretoria, where I found a love for children’s health and women’s health, and for seeing the possibilities of what we can achieve by treating people with chronic diseases holistically. My further work in Child Health and HIV management only reinforced my belief in an integrative approach.
I found my calling as a general practitioner or, as I like to call it, a family doctor. Victor Frankl proposed that man’s life is a quest for meaning, and a family doctor is in the privileged position, especially with continuous care, to help find and create meaning for ourselves and our patients.
After learning a lot by working in different private practices, I opened my own practice in a leap of faith, to live out my values and principles while providing a level of excellence, within the world of patient-centred care.
I am grateful to be surrounded by superb healthcare professionals whoshare my passion for seeing and hearing you as an individual and not only treating the symptoms but you as a whole person.