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Health Sciences awards first Bongani Mayosi Medical Students Academic Prize

12 December 2020 | Story André Damons

Bongani Mayosi Prize Latest News — Drs Kaamilah Joosub (in front) and Lynette Upman, medical students in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the UFS, are the winners of the first Bongani Mayosi Medical Students Academic Prize for final-year medical students.

Two final-year medical students from the University of the Free State (UFS) became the first recipients of the prestigious Bongani Mayosi Medical Students Academic Prize which was bestowed on them 10 days before their graduation.

Drs Kaamilah Joosub and Lynette Upman, two final-year medical students in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the UFS are the first medical students from the university to be awarded the prize.This is the first year it has been awarded.

Drs Joosub and Upman received their awards at a function on Friday (4 December 2020) from Prof Hanneke Brits, Phase III chair and specialist in the Department of Family Medicine, on behalf of Prof Gert van Zyl, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences.

The Faculty of Health Sciences will host a virtual graduation on 14 December 2020.

Prestigious national award

The Bongani Mayosi Medical Students Academic Prize is a prestigious national award which aims to recognise final-year medical students who epitomise the academic, legendary, and altruistic life of Mayosi. The awards are presented to final-year MB ChB students from all South African medical faculties. Each student is allowed one vote for one classmate who, in their private opinion, best balances:

Academic achievement
Emotional intelligence ‑ good interpersonal skills
Social accountability ‑ the ability to respond helpfully to the needs of others

Winners are determined by the highest number of digital votes, with the first-prize winner receiving R6 000 and second prize coming in at R4 000.

Dr Lynette van der Merwe, undergraduate medical programme director in the School of Clinical Medicine at UFS, commented that Drs Joosub and Upman are worthy winners, as they have continuously exemplified the ideals recognised by this award during their undergraduate training.

The School of Clinical Medicine is very proud of its newest Kovsie doctors who successfully completed the academic year despite the immense challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. This is thanks to the commitment and hard work of students and staff at the UFS.

Name behind the prize

The late Prof Bongani Mayosi was an outstanding doctor who rose rapidly through the ranks to become a top cardiologist, internationally recognised as a leading clinician scientist. He completed his undergraduate studies at the age of 22, having graduated cum laude in both the Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MB ChB) and Bachelor of Medical Sciences (BMedSci) degrees.

He trained as a physician and cardiologist at Groote Schuur Hospital and completed his doctorate at the University of Oxford in the UK. At the age of 38‚ he became the first black to be appointed professor and Head of the Department of Medicine at the University of Cape Town (UCT). In 2016, he was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at UCT. Before taking up his deanship, he completed the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard University in the US.

As a medical student Prof Mayosi excelled academically, was supportive of his classmates and enthusiastically involved in student residence committees and politics as well as community outreach programmes. As a researcher, he initiated an international programme of research focusing on solutions for poverty-related heart diseases and trained local clinician scientists and research leaders.

Prof Mayosi had an exceptional mixture of academic brilliance and vision; ambition and humility; kindness and generosity; passion and compassion; drive and empathy that complemented his ability to persuade and inspire others, which no doubt contributed to his 400 publications.

News Archive

Bloemfontein Campus hosts annual HELTASA conference

2014-12-09

From the left are: Prof Francois Strydom, Director: Academic - Centre for Teaching and Learning, UFS; Dr Lis Lange, Vice-Rector: Academic, UFS; and Prof George Kuh, Adjunct Research Professor of Education Policy at the University of Illinois.

This year, the privilege to host the annual Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa (HELTASA) conference was afforded to our university. The event took place on the Bloemfontein Campus from 18 – 21 November 2014, attracting keynote speakers and members from across the world.

HELTASA is a professional association mainly for educators and significant role players in higher education institutions. With its inception in the early 2000s, it has grown to become the premier organisation for teaching and learning in Southern Africa, Dr Amanda Hlengwa, President of HELTASA, pointed out.

A central concern of this body is issues around success within the tertiary sector. The theme of this year, ‘Accessing success: using evidence for change’ served to focus members’ attention on what works and what does not work – as derived from researched evidence.

In a message from Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of the Free State (UFS), he stressed that the task as university teachers “is not simply cognitive gains that ensure graduation success but also intellectual gains that ensure success in life during and after university studies.”

The conference was led by internationally-acclaimed keynote speakers, namely Prof George Kuh, Prof William Grabe and Prof Fredricka Stoller, as well as our own A1 NRF-rated Prof Malanie Walker.

Prof Kuh is Adjunct Research Professor of Education Policy at the University of Illinois and Chancellor’s Professor of Higher Education Emeritus at Indiana University. In his keynote address, Prof Kuh offered valuable lessons from the field to promote student success.

Profs Grabe and Stoller collectively presented the second keynote address that explored how to set up students for success through strategic-reader training. Prof Grabe is Regents’ Professor of Applied Linguistics and Vice President for Research at Northern Arizona University. Prof Stoller is a Professor of English at Northern Arizona University, where she teaches in the MA-TESL and PhD in Applied Linguistics programmes.

Prof Walker is a Senior Research Professor at the UFS Centre for Research on Higher Education and Development (CRHED). She is also currently Director of Research Training and a senior researcher in the EU-funded Marie Curie EDUWEL project. In her keynote address, Prof Walker looked at well-being and agency in higher education.

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