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Faculty of Health Sciences Dean’s medal winner already has her eyes on next degree

14 April 2025 | Story André Damons | Photo André Damons

Health Sciences Medal winners — Three of the Dean’s medal winners: Celine Taute, Angelique Johnson and Dr Monique Davidson after the graduation ceremony.

It was a big week for the newest University of the Free State (UFS) graduate, Angelique Johnson, who not only graduated with a Bachelor of Medical Science Honours in Pharmacology degree with distinction, but she was also awarded the Dean’s medal in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the university’s April graduation ceremonies.

Only a day before crossing the graduation stage on Friday 11 April, Angelique was also awarded the UFS Faculty of Health Sciences floating trophy for achieving the best results in respect of a bachelor honours degree in the faculty.

“It’s honestly an honour. Receiving the Dean’s Medal feels surreal — it’s a reminder that the effort I put in didn’t go unnoticed. It’s also motivating and makes me feel proud to represent my faculty in such a positive way.

“Graduating with distinction feels incredibly rewarding — it’s a validation of all the late nights, hard work, and perseverance. Achieving this required discipline, time management, and a genuine passion for the material. I also leaned on a strong support system and made sure to stay consistent throughout the academic year,” says Angelique.

Dean’s Medal winners

The Dean’s medal was also awarded to Celine Taute, Alexander van Wyk and Dr Monique Davidson who all graduated last year. Taute, who graduated with a Bachelor of Medical Science with specialisation in Radiation Sciences degree (obtained with distinction), was awarded the Dean’s medal for achieving the best results as a third-year student. Van Wyk graduated with Bachelor of Biokinetics degree with distinction and received the Dean’s medal for achieving the best results as a fourth-year student while Dr Davidson received was awarded for obtaining the best results as a fifth-year student.

Dr Davidson graduated with the degree Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery with distinction. Just like Johnson, Dr Davidson, Taute and Van Wyk was also awarded the faculty’s floating trophy for achieving the best results in their respective study years at Thursday’s (10 April 2025) prize-giving ceremony.

Driven by passion

According to Angelique, she will now pursue an MBChB degree as her passion for medicine drives her to go beyond simply making small changes — she wants to create a meaningful, lasting impact. “To borrow and adapt the words of Prof Gert van Zyl, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, I don’t just aim to create ripples or waves in the field of healthcare — I aspire to create a tsunami of positive change in people’s lives and in the medical profession.”

In 2023 she completed a BSc in Human Physiology (cum laude) from the University of Pretoria (UP). She decided to enrol for an Honours in Pharmacology degree after developing a strong interest in how the body responds to different substances, especially at the cellular and molecular levels.

“Pharmacology felt like a natural extension of that curiosity — it dives deeper into the mechanisms of drug action and how they can be used to treat disease. I wanted to better understand how physiological processes can be manipulated for therapeutic benefit, and pharmacology offered the perfect balance between science and real-world medical application,” she concludes.

Provide comfort

According to Celine, both the Dean’s medal as well as the awards came as a big surprise because she did not set out to achieve them. “I feel immensely blessed and thankful. Things that are worth it, require some sacrifices.”

“I am so grateful. I set out to do my best and trusted that God would sort out the details. Discipline and hard work were key in my success. A person is not an island, so having family that always believed in me even when I didn't, helped me get through those tough exams,” says Celine.

Celine, who is currently busy with an honour’s degree whereafter she will embark on a two-year internship, says she chose to specialise in radiation as she wanted to provide comfort and education to the mostly cancer patients and their families who radiation treatment can help.

News Archive

Council votes on appointment of senior staff

2004-11-18

The Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) today voted on the filling of three senior vacancies, including one post at Dean level and two at the level of Vice-Dean.

The Council voted as follows:


Dr Natie Luyt will be offered the post of Dean: Student Affairs	Prof Engela Pretorius will be offered the post of Vice-Dean: Faculty of Humanities	Dr Choice Makhetha will be offered the post of Vice-Dean: Student Affairs

“There are special challenges for the UFS in the short and medium term regarding transformation of our residences, and a certain combination of management qualities and skills is desirable. As a result of the diversity of the UFS’s student community it is therefore important to us to follow a team approach to deal with the challenges. With the combination of Drs Luyt and Makhetha, I believe we will be able to manage student affairs effectively and skillfully,” says Prof Frederick Fourie, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS.

“It is wonderful that we are able to celebrate the outcome of this process that has brought forward such excellent candidates who reflect our country’s diversity. It shows that we can achieve the goals of quality and diversity at the same time,” says Prof Fourie.

Prof Pretorius obtained all her qualifications (BA, BA (Hons) (cum laude), MA (cum laude) and D Phil) from the UFS, except for the Certificate in Gender Policy Management (cum laude) which she obtained in 2000 from WITS. She joined the Department of Sociology at UFS in 1980 and has headed the Department since 2001. She acted as Vice-Dean: Faculty of Humanities since July 2004. She has some thirty publications to her credit, published both nationally and internationally and has delivered 20 national and international papers. She is a member of the South African Sociological Association and is a member of the Council of the association and of the Editorial Board of Society in Transition, the society’s journal. She is also a member of the South African Academy for Science and Art and the Federation of African Women Educationalists in South Africa (FAWESA). Project involvement includes the Australian Women’s Executive Development Programme and the project Executive Development of Senior Women in South African Higher Education Institutions. She is also an NRF panelist.

Dr Luyt obtained his qualifications (BA, BA (Hons) (cum laude), MA (cum laude) and D Phil) at the UFS and started his career at the same institution in 1980 as lecturer in Political Science. He was promoted to senior lecturer in 1983 and appointed as Director: Student Affairs in 1997. He has been acting as Dean: Student Affairs since 2003. Dr Luyt completed several work-related training courses, among others a course in ethnic and multiculturality at the Swiss Institute for Federalism and a course in conflict management at the South Tyrolean Economic and Social Institute.

Dr Makheta also obtained all her qualifications (BA, BA (Hons), MA in Political Science and Ph D in Political Science) at the UFS and started working as a student assistant in Political Science at the same institution in 1999. She was promoted to junior assistant in 2000, coordinator and facilitator of Political Science in 2001, assistant/acting Director: Student Affairs in 2001 and acting Director: Student Affairs in 2003. Dr Makhetha is currently a Senior Political Analyst at the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The UFS Council also approved the promotion of nine professors to the rank of senior professor. They are Proff Louise Cilliers (Department English and Classical Languages), Dap Louw (Department of Psychology), Philip Nel (Department Afro-Asiatic Studies, Sign Language and Language Practice), Dirk van den Berg (Department of History of Art and Visual Culture Studies) Dingie van Rensburg (Director: Centre for Health Systems Research and Develoment), Andries Raath (Department of Constitutional Law and Philosophy of Law), James du Preez (Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology), Johan Grobbelaar (Department of Plant Sciences) and Louis Scott (Department of Plant Sciences).

This is the first group ever of senior professors at the UFS. The post level was created to provide better career and earnings opportunities for high quality academics and to increase the attractiveness of an academic career to young people.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za

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