Elmi Muller on stage, speaking in front of a red light wave

Transplant surgeon · Dean · Speaker

Dr. Elmi Muller

In your work, people may walk in and say: relax, nobody will die.

In my work, people die.

I’m a transplant surgeon and a Dean. I take what the operating room teaches about pressure, teams and hard decisions, and bring it to the people who lead everywhere else.

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Drawing of a patient on an operating table in a boardroom, with a rising chart and a clock

Three talks

What the operating room teaches the rest of us

Drawing of many gloved hands in different colours working together during an operation

01

Teams

The people you work with change how well you can do your job. What operating-room teams teach us about trust, roles and working well with people you met this morning.

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Pencil drawing of a balance scale weighing a sick organ against a healthy one

02

Organisations and systems

Good people struggle in bad systems. How to build the structures that let strangers work well together, in a hospital, a faculty or a company.

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Charcoal drawing of a liver beside a clock with the hours shaded orange

03

Self-management

Your decisions change how things turn out. Making hard calls, holding difficult conversations, and looking after yourself while you do.

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How I speak

Twenty drawings. Twenty seconds each.

I draw every slide myself. One idea per drawing, so the story stays with people long after the talk.

See how I speak
Drawing of a zipper closing a wound, stencilled words Closure and Endings
Drawing of a surgeon in a pink cap and mask holding an instrument, beside the operating team
Drawing of a glowing pink liver
Line drawing of a person looking at their scar in a mirror
Drawing of hands passing a parcel
Drawing of gloved hands in different colours during an operation
Drawing of a liver tied with a ribbon bow, stencilled word Beautiful
Drawing of a patient on an operating table in a boardroom, with a rising chart and a clock
Pencil drawing of a liver split into its segments, with the vessels running through it
Drawing of an anaesthetist in a green cap beside the monitors
Pencil drawing of a balance scale weighing a sick organ against a healthy one
Drawing of a hand lifting part of a liver, the cut vessels marked in purple
Drawing of gloved hands with scissors and a scalpel at an incision outlined in purple
Charcoal drawing of a liver beside a clock with the hours shaded orange

Audiences

I have spoken for

Elmi on stage in a full hall, her drawings on the screens behind her

Professional organisations

Surgical, transplant and medical societies, from international congresses to specialist meetings.

View over the audience towards Elmi on stage

Student organisations

The next generation of surgeons, in the room and online, including a student surgical society in London.

Elmi speaking beside a glass table

Business organisations

Leaders, managers and HR practitioners who need teams to perform under pressure.

Drawing of a glowing pink liver

The thread through every talk

Play the cards you’re dealt.

My work with HIV-positive donors began with organs most surgeons would have turned away, and they saved lives. A second-best start can still lead to a good outcome, for patients, for teams and for ourselves.

“It’s not what happens to you, it’s how you deal with it.”

W. Mitchell, a line I often come back to

Elmi Muller in scrubs and a surgical cap, laughing

About me

Surgeon. Dean. Mother. And I draw.

I pioneered HIV-positive to HIV-positive kidney transplants at Groote Schuur Hospital, and I am the first woman to lead the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University.

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