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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

Anchen Froneman selected for NY post-grad programme

2015-04-29

Anchen Froneman

Anchen Froneman, PhD-student at the UFS Odeion School of Music (OSM), has been accepted into the Modular Certification Programme in Laban Movement Studies at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies (LIMS), in New York (USA).

This programme is a postgraduate certificate that is considered the equivalent of a master’s degree programme. Successful completion earns the title of Certified Movement Analyst (CMA). Anchen’s attendance at the first module of the programme from 1 to 17 June 2015 has been made possible by a Postgraduate Scholarship granted by the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust.

Participation in the CMA Programme stems from her multidisciplinary doctoral research project as well as a personal interest in the ways that body movement contributes to a holistic musical performance. In her research project, she investigates the application of Laban Movement Studies to obtaining embodied, integrative piano performances. Laban Movement Studies is an approach whereby both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of body movement is analysed, codified, and developed, using specific considerations. This somatic approach uses a framework based on the personal uniqueness and complexity embedded in human movement, explaining and developing the organisation of the body, the position and relation of the body to itself, space, and other objects as well as the dynamic range of body movement.

CMAs contribute to various areas of human development, including leadership development, cross-cultural communications and management, interpersonal skills and conflict management, team development, self-awareness and performance improvement, performing arts as well as movement therapies.

Anchen uses the foundation of the Laban approach in her hypothesis that the development of both functional and expressive movement will enhance musical performance. She also centres this on the literature findings on body movement in the disciplines of music performance, neuroscience, psychology, and physiology. With this project, she aims to make a scholarly contribution towards raising awareness of the importance of integrating functional and expressive movements in performance.

Anchen completed her previous music qualifications at the OSM.

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