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Dr Yolandi Swart – developing the next generation of health professionals

22 March 2022 | Story André Damons

The new Director of the Undergraduate Medical Programme (MB ChB programme) in the School of Clinical Medicine within the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS) has a passion for teaching and learning and brings a wealth of experience with her.

Dr Yolandi Swart, who took over from Prof Lynette van der Merwe on 1 March 2022, says she is excited about the new opportunities that this position brings. She was not actively job-hunting and came across the advertisement by accident but was thrilled when she was informed that she is the recommended candidate.

A deep love for the UFS

“I will be heading up an amazing team of people who drive the MB ChB programme, making sure that we walk with our students on their journey to become the next generation of health professionals who will contribute to the health and wellness of our population. Our functions include coordinating the undergraduate curriculum, providing student support, as well as logistic support to ensure the smooth running of the MB ChB programme,” says Dr Swart.

As an alumna of the university (she obtained both her MB ChB and postgraduate MMed in Community Health at the UFS), she has a deep love for the UFS, as it has played a huge role in developing her into the person she is today.

According to Dr Swart, she looks forward to getting to know the students and seeing them develop into the best they can be, as well as engaging with the academic staff as they guide and train the students. She brings a diverse background to the position, having practised as a doctor, specialised in Community Health, and worked in clinical research at various levels, including senior management. This has afforded her the opportunity to equip herself with skills that she hopes will provide support and direction to the Undergraduate Programme Management team in order to provide excellent service in all its functions.

Her vision

“I love teaching and learning – taking a concept and making it accessible to someone. There are few things as satisfying as seeing that expression that says ‘Oh, now I get it!’

Kovsies has always had a reputation of producing excellent doctors. “It is my vision to build on that reputation, integrating local and international best practices as they develop into our students’ training, with the aim of developing young professionals who are competent, resilient, and able to face the challenges that life will throw at them – so that they, in turn, can play their role to influence lives for the better.”

Prior to her appointment, she worked at FARMOVS as a clinical research physician for more than six years, the past year and a half as the company’s Medical Director. Says Dr Swart: “I love challenging myself with new things every so often. Past and present hobbies include surfing (which died an early death, as I was horrible at it), scuba diving (yes, with sharks as well), horse-riding, and self-defence. Most recently, I got hooked on traditional archery – a very challenging skill to try and master.”

Dr Swart says she has learned throughout her personal life and professional career that life sometimes takes unexpected turns – but if one is open to the opportunities afforded by those unexpected turns, it often turns out so much better than the original plan could ever have been. “Difficulties and challenges will always come – but if one faces them with a positive attitude, they teach life skills that you would otherwise never have attained.”

News Archive

NRF researcher addresses racial debates in classrooms

2017-03-24

Description: Dr Marthinus Conradie Tags: Dr Marthinus Conradie

Dr Marthinus Conradie, senior lecturer in the
Department of English, is one of 31 newly-rated National
Research Foundation researchers at the University of
the Free State.
Photo: Rulanzen Martin

Exploring numerous norms and assumptions that impede the investigation of racism and racial inequalities in university classrooms, was central to the scope of the research conducted by Dr Marthinus Conradie, a newly Y-rated National Research Foundation (NRF) researcher.

Support from various colleagues
He is one of 31 newly-rated researchers at the University of the Free State (UFS) and joins the 150 plus researchers at the university who have been rated by the NRF. Dr Conradie specialises in sociolinguistics and cultural studies in the UFS Department of English. “Most of the publications that earned the NRF rating are aimed to contributing a critical race theoretic angle to longstanding debates about how questions surrounding race and racism are raised in classroom contexts,” he said.

Dr Conradie says he is grateful for the support from his colleagues in the Department of English, as well as other members of the Faculty of the Humanities. “Although the NRF rating is assigned to a single person, it is undoubtedly the result of support from a wide range of colleagues, including co-authors Dr Susan Brokensha, Prof Angelique van Niekerk, and Dr Mariza Brooks, as well as our Head of Department, Prof Helene Strauss,” he said.

Should debate be free of emotion?
His ongoing research has not been assigned a title yet, as he and his co-author does not assign titles prior to drafting the final manuscript. “Most, but not all, of the publications included in my application to the NRF draw from discourse analysis of a Foucauldian branch, including discursive psychology,” Dr Conradie says. His research aims to suggest directions and methods for exploring issues about race, racism, and racial equality relating to classroom debates. One thread of this body of work deals with the assumption that classroom debates must exclude emotions. Squandering opportunities to investigate the nature and sources of the emotions provoked by critical literature, might obstruct the discussion of personal histories and experiences of discrimination. “Equally, the demand that educators should control conversations to avoid discomfort might prevent in-depth treatment of broader, structural inequalities that go beyond individual prejudice,” Dr Conradie said. A second stream of research speaks to media representations and cultural capital in advertising discourse. A key example examines the way art from European and American origins are used to imbue commercial brands with connotations of excellence and exclusivity, while references to Africa serve to invoke colonial images of unspoiled landscapes.

A hope to inspire further research
Dr Conradie is hopeful that fellow academics will refine and/or alter the methods he employed, and that they will expand, reinterpret, and challenge his findings with increasing relevance to contemporary concerns, such as the drive towards decolonisation. “When I initially launched the research project (with significant aid from highly accomplished co-authors), the catalogue of existing scholarly works lacked investigations along the particular avenues I aimed to address.”

Dr Conradie said that his future research projects will be shaped by the scholarly and wider social influences he looks to as signposts and from which he hopes to gain guidelines about specific issues in the South African society to which he can make a fruitful contribution.

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