Want to discuss
how you and/or your
healthcare organisation
can work with me?
DO YOU KNOW YOU'RE DESTINED FOR MORE?
WHAT IMPACT COULD YOU BE MAKING IN HEALTHCARE?
MAKE AN IMPACT & EXPERIENCE UNIMAGINABLE SUCCESS IN YOUR CAREER
DO YOU KNOW YOU'RE DESTINED FOR MORE?
WHAT IMPACT COULD YOU BE MAKING IN HEALTHCARE?
EXPERIENCE UNIMAGINABLE SUCCESS IN YOUR CAREER
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Plus you’ll get my free resources and exclusive invites to events and my online mentorship program, Co-Lab Academy.
ARE YOU READY TO BECOME THE LEADER YOU'RE MEANT TO BE?
Our health systems are so complex. As an award-winning healthcare leader, mentor and researcher, I support healthcare leaders and organisations to navigate this complexity and build thriving careers and meaningful large scale change.
I work with highly qualified, already accomplished healthcare leaders and teams who struggled on an individual and organisational level to create the impact they dream of making. From obstacles in their career journeys, to the challenges of leading and implementing systems change.
TOO OFTEN THIS PATTERN OF STRUGGLE BECOMES THE STATUS QUO. I’M TELLING YOU THAT IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO DISRUPT THE CYCLE.
THIS IS MY STORY
I've worked in healthcare for over 30 years from the hospital front line to the boardroom, the international conference stage and beyond.
Before I had the right support and tools, I hid inside my comfort zones and lived in quiet desperation of the dreams I had for my career and my impact in healthcare.
Except, I knew in my heart that I was destined for more.
I've gone on to have an award-winning career I could never have imagined.
I believe this success and impact is possible for all healthcare leaders who know that they, and their teams, are destined for more.
THIS IS MY STORY
I've worked in healthcare for over 30 years from the hospital front line to the boardroom and the international stage.
Before I had the right tools, I let my fears get the best of me and hid inside my comfort zones, not sharing my voice or unique ideas.
I tried to do it all by myself and this stunted my progress and left me feeling very burnt out!
The way I broke free started with me knowing in my heart that I was destined for more.
I've gone on to have a career I could never have imagined.
YOU KNOW WHAT?
I THINK YOU'RE
DESTINED FOR
MORE TOO.
WHAT IF I TOLD YOU YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO IT ALONE?
If I could turn back the clock, I wish I had gotten more support along the way.
I pushed myself too hard to make my change projects happen without delegating properly and seeking the high level know-how and accountability that an expert could have given to my career and organisational goals.
Imagine what you could achieve with a master mentor and strategic partner at your side?
HOW TO WORK WITH ME
CHANGE LEADERSHIP CORPORATE SERVICES
I offer a wide range of bespoke services for healthcare and healthtech organisations. Bring me on board to support your teams and accelerate results through a custom leadership training for aspiring or existing change leaders. Get my expert input for strategy on systems change initiatives using my future-leading change leadership tools. I mentor and coach talented change leaders to grow and achieve personal and organisational goals and lead change projects at scale.
PERSONAL BRANDING, LINKEDIN, AND TURNING YOUR TEAMS INTO YOUR OWN BEST BRAND AMBASSADORS - with Anthea van den Bergh
Future-leading healthcare and healthtech organisations are embracing the power of their teams and leaders to be their own best brand advocates. I’ve teamed up with my daughter Anthea van den Bergh who specialises in thought-leadership marketing and personal branding to teach a workshop tailored for health professionals to champion their work and their organisations.
Since starting our work together in 2022, Anthea and I have helped global health professionals to use LinkedIn as a powerful tool for advocacy and impact. Benefits include increased visibility and reputation of your projects, research and healthcare leadership in the industry, boosting team engagement and initiative, attracting high quality talent and better recruitment, and more.
WORKSHOP FACILITATOR, SPEAKER AND INTERACTIVE TEAM ENGAGEMENT
Book one of my in-person workshops and conference speaker offerings to support your organisational and team strategy. I help , facilitate interactive team engagement, and inspire and equip leaders to take up the call to lead and implement positive change aligned to your larger goals and become brand ambassadors for your profession, cause or healthcare organisation.
I use leading edge facilitation methods and tools that are designed to open new ways of thinking and creativity. I draw on stories and examples from my years of experience leading large scale movements for change in health systems and from the incredible leaders and front-line health professionals I have mentored and collaborated with for decades.
The Collaborative Laboratory for Healthcare Change Leaders A.K.A
CO-LAB ACADEMY
Join my online mentorship program for talented professionals in healthcare and healthtech to become sought-after leaders, build thriving careers, and create meaningful change in healthcare. Launched in 2023, this program has supported global health professionals to experience compounding success and positive effects in their careers and their greater impact.
JOIN THE WAITLIST FOR THE NEXT ONLINE CO-LAB ACADEMY
INCLUDED IN MY SERVICES
Impact
Together we'll design and implement high impact change projects no matter the size that include co-production with staff on the front lines, collaboration and delegation, and the latest implementation science methodologies.
Strategic Savvy
You can't make real progress and change by following old hierarchies and systems. I'll teach you the savvy to swim upstream and truly innovate in your work that builds a thriving career, strong teams and collaborations, and amplified impact.
Master Mentorship
Part of my success formula is mentoring individuals and teams to meet your personal and company goals. This includes pushing you to go inwards, identify opportunities, breakthrough blocks to your success, and map out an action plan for your highest potential.
Hi, I'm Dr Dena
van den Bergh.
I'm an award-winning healthcare change leader, global researcher and large scale change maker.
With a career spanning over 30 years as an executive in healthcare, I am an authority in change leadership and health systems innovation with experience on the hospital front lines to the boardroom, international conference stage, and beyond.
I have worked with South Africa's largest healthcare groups and funders in the public and private sector and collaborated with global change leaders in large scale health systems improvement.
My Doctorate in Engineering from Warwick University gave me a love for systems thinking which I integrated with my clinical expertise to create a unique approach to healthcare change leadership.
I now work independently with leaders, teams and organisations to successfully implement health systems improvement co-designed with stakeholders.
My goal is to empower accomplished and emerging leaders to thrive in their lives and their careers and inspire them to make a powerful impact in shaping the future of health systems globally.
I am an industry leader in change leadership and implementation of health systems improvement as well as a passionate advocate for value-based care and addressing the gap of vital employee and public input into designing better health systems for all.
In 2015 I was awarded the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Leadership in Quality Improvement in South Africa by Discovery Health for my change leadership work across the public and private sector.
A world citizen at heart, I frequently collaborate internationally and present and publish my work at the global level in order to expand my contribution and exchange knowledge to better my own work.
I am an honorary research associate at UCT Dept. of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV and a senior editor for the peer reviewed international journal JAC-AMR.
I am also an internationally certified leadership coach, an IHI trained Healthcare Improvement Advisor, an advanced Presencing and Theory U facilitator for social change and certified in Leadership Mastery with the Institute of Woman-Centered Coaching, Training and Leadership.
I am a committed yoga, meditation and wellness practitioner and love spending time in nature with my friends and family.
VIDEO SERIES
GET THE NEVER-SHARED SECRETS
OF HEALTHCARE CHANGE LEADERS
...and use them to skyrocket your own career!
Be inspired by diverse speakers from South Africa, the USA, Colombia, Australia, Sweden and more, where we share our top tips and advice for change leaders at all stages of their careers to take more risks and dare to be different.
Dr Augusta Dorning
Healthcare Executive, Brand Ambassador.
Influencer passionate about bringing healthcare to every person in Africa
Dr Dena van den Bergh provided the impetus for quality in Netcare, inspiring staff to embrace healthcare quality and to appreciate the role of leading positive change in their own lives, their organisation and that of the communities they serve. Dena created the groundswell and then empowered hundreds of others to take the initiatives further. Beyond thousands of quality initiatives which survive to this day, staff gained the confidence to participate in research which became internationally recognised.
MORE TESTIMONIES
Barry Bedford
Chief Operating Officer
Mediclinic Middle East
Dena is a true Ambassador for Quality in healthcare. Her understanding of the healthcare system allows her to implement innovative, sustainable change processes together with front-line staff.
She is also one of few that fully understand the true meaning of engaging doctors as key stakeholders to ensure patient care and quality outcomes.
Dena is not afraid to change the world one step at a time. In the field of Quality and Systems improvement, I have not yet met her equivalent!
Doris Helbig
Consultant and Coach
Germany
I greatly admire Dena’s courage and tenderness with which she steps up to contribute to the growth of others. Her vision and mission to improve the opportunities for women in healthcare, by creating working environments of co-creation in her leadership positions, are already changing the way in which corporations / hospitals work together.
Prof Esmita Charani
Associate Professor
and Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow at the University of Cape Town, Visiting Researcher at Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen Norway, and adjunct Professor at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kerala India
I have worked with Dena for a number of years in different capacities. I am always inspired by her way of approaching teamwork and problems we encounter as healthcare change leaders. Several members of our research team have benefited from being trained by Dena and can attest to it improving their work and communication skills. I always recommend Dena to colleagues who need to be motivated in their work.
Sonya Kolman
Clinical Pharmacist
Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital
My journey from the coaching sessions with Dena has been phenomenal. I had reached the end of what I was able to achieve on my own.
I have gone from being a very shy, reserved person into a person who is able to communicate with our doctors confidently and take on a more leadership role within my hospital.
Dena’s understanding and knowledge of the healthcare workplace has been a huge plus. My goals were immense and through her guidance I have been able to tackle them one step at a time.
PRIVACY POLICY | COPYRIGHT 2025 DR DENA VAN DEN BERGH
“Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must first set yourself on fire.”
F. Shero
