Mapping the human story behind the science
- Leanne Rencken
PhD student Caitlin Wheeler digs deep beyond the data to connect with patients, students and mentors.
Caitlin Wheeler speaks with quiet assurance from a world in which science and humanity connect. Currently immersed in her research on autoimmune liver disease, she has been guided through her career by discovery, connection and communication.
Her way of thinking, she says, is rooted in her mother’s influence. “She is a town planner and has always thought very spatially about ideas and has passed that on to me. I am able to visualise the problem and orientate myself within it.” Her instinct to see patterns has shaped her approach to genetics and one day she hopes to apply it – in her transcriptomics work – to studying how gene expression unfolds at the cellular level.
“One of my biggest passions is science communication,” she says, speaking about finding stories within data and making research accessible. Her passion runs through her outreach work at the Wits Adler Museum of Medicine, where she helps secondary school students discover that science can be more than that to which they are typically exposed. “Many learners want to study medicine but haven’t really been exposed to this other side of the biological sciences,” she adds.
Rooted in science
As a child, Caitlin was curious and observant, always busy formulating backyard potions from leaves and lemons. Early experiments evolved into a fascination with living systems. She started out in animal science at Stellenbosch University but shifted to biochemistry and human genetics – the field in which she has come to thrive.
Her move to Wits for a Master’s in Genomic Medicine proved decisive. “It was my first exposure to how clinical and scientific research can work hand in hand,” she recalls, describing a world in which discovery prioritises patient care and highlights the importance of teamwork.
Now pursuing her PhD, Caitlin is investigating autoimmune hepatitis, a disease in which the immune system attacks the liver. The project links clinicians at the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre with scientific researchers at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. The collaboration, she says, embodies her belief that science cannot thrive in isolation. “Traditionally science has worked in silos. I want to form a bridge between these different areas,” says Wheeler.
A diagnostic odyssey
This bridge is both scientific and personal. Caitlin meets with the patients whose biopsies supply the samples that she analyses and she does not take that privilege lightly. These patients have endured what many call “a diagnostic odyssey,” a journey of uncertainty before receiving clarity on their condition. These encounters keep her grounded and remind her of the human stakes behind the data.
Through her work, Caitlin is helping to fill what she describes as a major gap: “African data has been underrepresented on an international level just because studies haven’t been able to lift off and thrive.” With experts now challenging long-held perspectives, that imbalance is beginning to change. Her team’s findings could eventually improve diagnosis and treatment not only for South Africans but across a continent where few liver-transplant centres exist.
She credits a network of mentors from different fields, many of them women in STEM, for helping her stay the course. It’s taught her that asking for guidance, despite what she calls “natural shyness” is not weakness, but courage. Today she pays that generosity forward, with a commitment to younger scientists, especially young girls who need visible role models.
Local grit
For Caitlin, communication is more than outreach: “Science is built on being able to communicate ideas and results because if you have a scientific discovery that is brilliant but you’re not able to communicate the importance of that to different spheres of the community – a clinical team or a patient advocacy group – then the results aren’t as impactful,” she explains.
At a Novartis Next Generation Scientist internship in Switzerland for three months in 2025, she was struck by the abundance of resources in the Global North and the opportunity to interact with the international scientific community. Yet, coming home gave her a new appreciation of South Africa’s warmth, ingenuity and resilience. “It was delightful to come back to the resourceful and innovative attitude we have here. There, they have a different outlook. In South Africa, the main focus is on building a good foundation from which to explore further.”
Research can be unpredictable and at times intimidating, especially when experiments and code fail. She draws resilience from her mentors, her family and a simple question that she carries into every collaboration: How can I help? This perfectly captures her instinct to create working spaces in which everyone thrives.
She also knows that not all young scientists have access to this kind of support. Many face short-term contracts, limited resources and few formal mentorship opportunities. “The best environments are those that see science as a collective effort,” she explains, “If I could change one thing, it would be the support that we give young researchers not only through mentorship but also through funding.”
Her guiding principles are simple and enduring: curiosity, persistence and kindness – profound constants that keep her growing while helping others do the same.
To arrange school tours with the Wits Adler Museum of Medicine, please contact the coordinator Lydia.Makua@wits.ac.za.
- Leanne Rencken is a freelance writer.
- This article first appeared in?CURIOS.TY,?a research magazine produced by?Wits Communications?and the?Research Office.
- Read more in the 20thissue, themed #Thrive, which explores what it truly means to flourish — across a lifespan, within communities, and on and with our planet.