An interview with Dr Paula Robertson

This interview was held on Jan 14, 2026

Hi! I’m a pediatrician with over 20 years’ clinical experience in managing childhood illnesses and working with families and young people and passionate about holistic child health and holding space for young people to really step into the best version of themselves.

How did I get started? Gosh, that's a long story! I actually wanted to be a veterinarian growing up. I love animals and my plan had been to get into veterinary medicine but after my first year of entry into medical school, I loved it and decided to stay with medicine and then when I rotated through Pediatrics in my internship I really found kindred spirits because I realized that I could make a difference not just to the young person in front of me but to the wider family and community as well. So I never looked back! I've been working exclusively in pediatrics over the last 20 years.

Tell us a little bit about your training. I started my undergraduate training at University of the West Indies. I took a gap year coming out of secondary school (and I loved that gap year by the way - it actually allowed me to try my hands at something different) and worked at a publishing house which was interesting! It was my first opportunity to learn how to manage things like budgets and rents and I think it helped me grow up a lot actually. Then I went into medical school - our program is about 5 years followed by 18 months internship; from that essentially  I went in to Pediatrics. I did my postgraduate training in the UK which was wonderful and really had some amazing experiences there - I do think it's a great experience to live and work in another country because it opened my eyes to I think the challenges but also the rewards of practicing medicine in a different environment. I completed my specialist training and worked as a consultant in the NHS in the UK for about 7 years actually in South East London, one of my favourite places. I was particularly interested in working with young people with epilepsy and also with sickle cell disease so I ran those two clinics and established networks which live on to this day. More recently I’ve been working as a pediatric emergency consultant at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Trinidad but I also have been blessed to work with some of my colleagues to establish the first dedicated Pediatric Urgent Care Center in the Caribbean which was established in October 2023 so that's our baby -  Just Kidz Emergency Medical Center (which just celebrated its second birthday) - and that's been an incredible journey which I hope will continue for many years.

What have I learned during my journey? Particularly coming through the covid-19 pandemic I learned the importance of holistic care and particularly the Mind-Body Connection. I've been interested in this before - what was it that made young people present with physical symptoms in times of distress without necessarily having any physical abnormalities? That started me on a journey of discovering the Mind-Body connect and in particular looking at ways that we could work with mental wellness and teach mental wellness practices - not waiting until there was a crisis but from early teaching young people mental health skills which aren’t currently taught in schools.  Through the covid 19 pandemic more than any other time I realized that there was really an acute need for all of us to have that mental health toolbox because it was first time in our generation that we had to live through something like this. There was a lot of anxiety and we were disconnected from each other - it was quite an experience and I think we are still seeing the aftermath of it, so throughout the pandemic, I took the opportunity to train as a certified mindfulness teacher for children with US based MIndful Schools as well as the Paws B course with the Mindfulness in Schools project (UK) so then I came out of the other end with a certification to teach mindfulness to kids. The other thing that I did was to train in yoga therapy for children and I also became a positive discipline parenting instructor. I still use those skills in my daily practice. It also helped me when I established with some amazing women an NGO called Mindful Kites which ran for about five years - that allowed us to develop a syllabus to go into schools and teach young people mental wellness which I still teach to this day. 

So what would I like to tell my younger self? 

I think I'd like to go back in time if I could and talk to my younger self now starting on this journey and tell her that it's okay to be authentically you. I have a unique set of skills and talents no one else has, but it is so needed; to trust in that and really to follow your heart. My journey may look different to other people’s and may actually look different to want is expected but it's really important to carve your path and to trust in your instincts. 

What are some of the biggest challenges you face? 

So many! Navigating through the global pandemic was one. I think trying to find that elusive work-life balance. (I still haven't found it!) I'm still working on it but really learning how to balance the demands of work with my family and the things that I am interested in outside of Medicine. I continue to find that probably the biggest challenge that I have because all of us have so many roles- sister, daughter, friend, mother, teacher- and really making sure that we nurture all of those aspects and elements of our lives.

So what am I interested in outside of medicine? Good question! I like I love learning so I've been learning languages - more recently I've taken on Portuguese and I’m finding that an interesting journey. I also love travelling, exploring new places and learning about different cultures. One other passion that I've had recently is learning dance so I've signed up for tango classes and  I'm going to try that for the new year. I I love feeling my body move in healthy ways  and physical activity so I do a little bit of resistance and weight training as well. So yeah, travel, meeting up with friends, learning languages and dance, and discovering new parts of the world.

What would I like to leave as my legacy? I think one of the great things about working as a pediatrician is not it's not just about the young person in front of you; it's also about the wider community so what I would love is to develop a community that support each other. I see new parents coming in and you know they're overwhelmed. They feel there's a lot of information coming at them and  it's hard to sift through to know what's evidence based and what's not. I think having safe spaces where we can support parents and families at different stages of the journey is so important because each stage has its own challenges. I think it would be wonderful to have a community that supports parents through each of these stages and a safe space for both young people and and families to feel listened to and seen; that would be an amazing legacy to leave behind.

What am I most proud of? 

I'm proud of the teams that I work with. I think I'm really blessed to work with some amazing young people and parents but also my colleagues who have become friends in the work place. I think I've been particularly blessed because along the way our teams have won a number of clinical awards - for instance in the UK, my Ambulatory Care team was awarded third place for best Clinical Team in the Trust Awards in 2007  and then our Sickle Cell team won Clinical Team of the Year in 2008. More recently, in 2025 the team at Just Kidz Emergency Medical got a bronze medal in the Stevie awards for women for best new product or service in the consumer services category. That was a fabulous experience because I got to attend the awards ceremony in New York and I saw the pride in our team, just knowing that we were able to be represented on a global stage like that. I’m also blessed to be the mom of an amazing young man. I have the pleasure of seeing him grow up and really develop his personality as he steps into the person that he's becoming, and I'm extremely proud of who he is turning into everyday.

Thanks so much for chatting with me! If you'd like to hear more, check out my blog at www.paulathedoctormom.com. I have a lot of information and articles all about various aspects of child health and parenting. Take care!