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Qwaqwa Campus top student’s degree a nod to Assistant Dean father

22 April 2021 | Story NONSINDISO QWABE | Photo Thabo Kessah

Dux Student 2020_web use — Faith Mudzingiri.

Sharing her father’s love for the field of commerce, Faith Mudzingiri, daughter of Dr Calvin Mudzingiri, Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, is one of the more than 1 500 students who received their qualifications during the University of the Free State Qwaqwa Campus virtual graduation ceremony. Faith obtained her BCom General Management degree during the virtual ceremony on 21 April.

In 2020, Mudzingiri topped the academic charts as the best student across all faculties on the campus.

Following in the footsteps of her father

An accounting enthusiast from an early age, Faith said her father has been her biggest motivation. Having a parent in such a critical position can come with immense pressure to perform, but she said “watching him inspired me a lot. For me to be here, is because I’ve learned from him that hard work pays off”.

Mudzingiri said while she was grateful for the accomplishment of being the Dux student for 2020, her academics did not get off to a good start in 2017 when she began her first year.

“As an international student coming from Zimbabwe, I struggled a lot in my first year. I had difficulty finding my feet in the new environment. Things got better in my second year, but in my third year I reminded myself why I was here and why I started this degree. I knew I wanted to graduate in record time, and so had to put in the work.”

Still set on achieving her accounting dream, Mudzingiri is now pursuing a BCom Accounting degree on the Bloemfontein Campus. “I would love to become a tax accountant and start my own accounting firm one day.”

News Archive

Medical team performs first hybrid procedure in the Free State

2014-12-08

The days when a heart operation meant hours in an operating theatre, with weeks and even months of convalescing, will soon be something of the past.

A team of cardiologists from the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Faculty of Health Sciences once again made medical history when they performed the first hybrid procedure in the Free State.

The Department of Paediatric Cardiology, in conjunction with the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, performed this very successful procedure on a 45-year-old woman from Kuruman.

During the procedure of 30 minutes, the patient’s thorax was opened up through a mini thoracotomy to operate on the beating heart.

“The patient received an artificial valve in 2011. Due to infection, a giant aneurism developed from the left ventricle, next to the aorta. Surgery would pose a very high risk to the patient. Furthermore, her health was such that it would contribute to problems during open-heart surgery,” explains Prof Stephen Brown, Head of the UFS’s Department of Paediatric Cardiology.

“After the heart was opened up through a mini thoracotomy, the paediatric cardiologists performed a direct puncture with a needle to the left ventricle cavity. A Special sheath was then placed in the left ventricle to bypass the catheters. Aided by highly advanced three-dimensional echocardiography and dihedral X-ray guidance, the opening to the aneurism, located directly below the artificial aorta valve, was identified and the aneurism cannulated.”

During the operation, a special coil, called a Nester Retractor, was used for the first time on a patient in South Africa to obtain stasis of extravasation and ensure the stability of devices in the aneurism.

“This is highly advanced and specialist work, as we had to make sure that the aneurism doesn’t rupture during manipulation and the devices had to be positioned in such a way that it doesn’t cause obstruction in valve function or the coronary artery. The surgical team was ready all the time to switch the patient to the heart-lung machine should something go wrong, but the procedure was very successful and the patient was discharged after a few days.”

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