Maretha grew up in Gauteng and attended the University of Pretoria where she graduated MBChB with Distinction in 2013. Maretha completed her internship, community service and medical officer training in anaesthesia at Helen Joseph & Rahima Moosa Hospitals in Gauteng where she obtained her Diploma in Anaesthesia in 2016. She joined the UCT Anaesthesia training program in January 2018 where she excelled in all departments. She was the UCT Anaesthesia registrar represenative in 2019, won the Registrar’s Registrar Award in the same year, and won Best Registrar in Paediatric Anaesthesia award in 2020.

Maretha obtained her Master of Medicine in Anaesthesiology (MMed) with Distinction in 2021, the same year that she obtained her Fellowship of the College of Anaesthesiologists (FCA)(SA). She worked as a Specialist Anaesthetist in 2022 rotating through Groote Schuur Hospital Intensive Care Units and Red Cross Children’s Hospital where she developed an interest in Paediatric Anaesthesia. Maretha has six publications to her name (three of which are first author publications), and is actively involved in ongoing registry and research projects. Her primary research field is obstetric airway management, and she has won two research awards at international congresses.