Dr Elizabeth Friend grew up in France and Pretoria and studied languages after Matric. She then worked as a diplomat in Namibia after which she changed direction and studied medicine.

In 2005 she obtained her MBChB and completed her internship at Steve Biko Academic Hospital. She subsequently worked at International SOS for 2 years.

She completed the ACLS, PALS, AMLS and ATLS courses and worked in emergency medicine for 7 years. In this time, she completed a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Health.

She has always had an interest in Haematology and started working at ACT Pretoria East Haematology Centre in January 2016.