Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

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

Researchers international leaders in satellite tracking in the wildlife environment

2015-05-29

Ground-breaking research has attracted international media attention to Francois Deacon, lecturer and researcher in the Department Animal, Wildlife and Grassland Sciences at the UFS, and Prof Nico Smit, from the same department. They are the first researchers in the world to equip giraffes with GPS collars, and to conduct research on this initiative. Recently, they have been joined by Hennie Butler from the Department of Zoology as well as Free State Nature Conservation to further this research.

“Satellite tracking is proving to be extremely valuable in the wildlife environment. The unit is based on a mobile global two-way communication platform, utilising two-way data satellite communication, complete with GPS systems.

“It allows us to track animals day and night, while we monitor their movements remotely from the computer. These systems make possible the efficient control and monitoring of wildlife in all weather conditions and in near-to-real time. We can even communicate with the animals, calling up their positions or changing the tracking schedules.

“The satellite collar allows us to use the extremely accurate data to conduct research with the best technology available. The volume of data received allows us to publish the data in scientific journals and research-related articles.

“Scientific institutions and the public sector have both shown great interest in satellite tracking, which opens up new ground for scientific research for this university. Data management can be done, using Africa Wildlife Tracking (AWT) equipment where we can access our data personally, store it, and make visual presentations. The AWT system and software architecture provide the researcher with asset tracking, GPS location reports, geo-fencing, highly-detailed custom mapping, history reports and playback, polling on demand, history plotting on maps, and a range of reporting types and functions,” Francois said.

Data can be analysed to determine home range, dispersal, or habitat preference for any specific species.

Francois has been involved in multiple research projects over the last 12 years on wildlife species and domesticated animals, including the collaring of species such as Black-backed Jackal, Caracal, African Wild Dog, Hyena, Lion, Cheetah, Cattle, Kudu, Giraffe, and Black Rhino: “Giraffe definitely being the most challenging of all,” he said.

In 2010, he started working on his PhD, entitled The spatial ecology, habitat preferences and diet selection of giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis giraffa) in the Kalahari region of South Africa.

Since then, his work has resulted not only in more research work (supervising four Masters students) but also in a number of national and international projects. These include work in the:

Kalahari region (e.g. Khamab Nature Reserve and Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park)
Kuruman region (Collared 18 cattle to identify spatial patterns in relation to the qualities of vegetation and soil-types available. This project took place in collaboration with Born University in Germany)
Woodland Hills Wildlife Estate and Kolomella Iron Ore – ecological monitoring
A number of Free State nature reserves (e.g. Distribution of herbivores (kudu and giraffe) and predators (camera traps)

Francois is also involved with species breeding programmes and management (giraffe, buffalo, sable, roan, and rhino) in Korrannaberg, Rustenburg, Hertzogville, Douglas, and Bethlehem as well as animal and ecological monitoring in Kolomella and Beesthoek iron ore.

Besides the collaring of giraffes, Francois and his colleagues are involved in national projects, where they collect milk from lactating giraffes and DNA material, blood samples, and ecto/endo parasites from giraffes in Southern Africa.

With international projects, Francois is working to collect DNA material for the classification of the nine sub-species of giraffe in Africa. He is also involved in projects focusing on the spatial ecology and adaptation of giraffe in Uganda (Murchison Falls), and to save the last 30 giraffe in the DRC- Garamba National Park.

This project has attracted a good deal of international interest. In June 2014, a US film crew (freelancing for Discovery Channel) filmed a documentary on Francois’ research (trailer of documentary). Early in 2015, a second crew, filming for National Geographic, also visited Francois to document his work.

More information about Francois’ work is available at the GCF website.

Read Francois Deacon's PhD abstract

Direct enquiries to news@ufs.ac.za.

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept