UKZN Produces its Youngest Ever Medical Doctor
Dr Sandile Kubheka.Dr Sandile Kubheka recently completed his MBChB degree at the College of Health Sciences at the age of 20, making him the youngest graduate in the College’s history.
Kubheka of Newcastle, who was ecstatic about his achievement, attained a distinction in Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
He was selected by his classmates to receive the Yashiv Sham Bursary for having compassion and caring qualities and the Enid Gordon Jacob Good Fellowship Prize for character and good conduct.
Kubheka began his formal schooling at the age of five, matriculating aged 15 at the Siyamukhela High School. He then enrolled at UKZN’s Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine where he served in the Rural Development Club, in the Happy Valley Clinic and on the Medical Student’s Representative Council.
Kubheka enjoys giving back to the community volunteering to give free medical treatment and advice to rural communities attending the Happy Valley Clinic and Madadeni Hospital.
‘I love working especially with rural communities which often don’t have easy access to medical treatment. I assisted in registering the Happy Valley Clinic as a Non-Profit Organisation during my student years and will continue to work with disadvantaged communities in the future.
‘I’ve had a very humble upbringing and my mum, who raised me and my four siblings on her own, greatly assisted in keeping me grounded. I am the first to qualify as a doctor in my family.’
Kubheka is serving his internship at Grey’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg and hopes to eventually register for a Masters of Medicine degree, specialising in Internal Medicine and to super specialise at some stage in Endocrinology.
He acquired an interest in Endocrinology after being inspired by UKZN’s Head of Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Professor Ayesha Motala, as well as having a family member who has Type 2 Diabetes.
Kubheka was voted as most likely to be “the next Minister of Health” by last year’s Medical class.
- MaryAnn Francis
author : .author email : .School of Health Sciences Top Student
Miss Reeya Singh.Bachelor of Pharmacy student, Miss Reeya Singh, completed her degree as the top student at the School of Health Sciences in 2013, scoring five awards out of an available seven in the Discipline of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Singh, who will graduate summa cum laude later this year, received awards for the Best Pharmaceutical Sciences Student, Best Pharmaceutics Student, Best Pharmacology Student, Best Pharmacy Practice Student and Best Pharmaceutical Chemistry Student.
She is currently serving her internship at King Edward VIII Hospital where she is applying the clinical and pharmacy practice aspects she learned during her undergraduate degree as well as obtaining hands on experience in the pharmaceutical services and health care field.
Singh was very excited and extremely proud. ‘I entered UKZN with high aspirations, but did not think I would be leaving as the Top Health Sciences Student - it feels amazing!’
Singh, who matriculated at Dr A. D. Lazarus Secondary School in 2009, said her university life had been challenging and pressurised at times. ‘But I am blessed with family and friends who kept motivating and helping me. It certainly has been fulfilling to see my sacrifices turn into success and achievements.
‘I was also fortunate to be tutored by dedicated lecturers at the Discipline of Pharmaceutical Sciences as well as to share my learning experiences with supportive friends and colleagues.’
Singh said she coped with the amount of studies and practicals by studying strategically: ‘It is important to acknowledge your strengths and weaknesses and focus more on modules that are challenging and get more clarification if needed.’
She says through perseverance and always doing your best, it is possible to achieve anything.
Singh, who will do her community service next year, plans to pursue her Masters in Pharmaceutics or Pharmacoeconomics. ‘I am hoping that my internship and community service will provide me with a clearer vision of which stream will best suit me.’
Her past achievements include:
• Top 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th-year Pharmacy student
• 2012 UKZN Brenda M Gourley Scholarship - a prestige scholarship for the second best undergraduate in the University
• MK Rosenbach Scholarship (2013)
• Golden Key International Honours Society New Member Chapter Award (2012).
- Nombuso Dlamini
author : .author email : .UKZN Academic on Clinical Forensic Medicine Advisory Committee
Dr Kantharuben Naidoo, UKZN’s Head of Clinical Unit - Family Medicine. UKZN’s Dr Kantharuben Naidoo has been appointed to the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Clinical Forensic Medicine Advisory Committee (CFMSC).
The Committee aims to ensure there is alignment between the provincial CFMSC and the national body.
Naidoo is enthusiastic about his appointment, ‘I have the necessary skills, knowledge and expertise to help optimise clinical forensic medicine service delivery in the province. I am motivated by a strong ethos of human rights and patient advocacy.’
Naidoo said although the appointment was unexpected, he had been very active in teaching and training programmes, especially on the holistic management of a patient presenting with sexual assault. The programmes included clinical examination, medico-legal documentation, evidentiary collection and post-exposure prophylaxis, including trauma counselling.
He said the committee’s role was to ensure the provision of CML services which were holistic, high quality, equitable, accessible, effective and efficient and involved role players such as National Prosecuting Authority, SAPS, the Department of Justice and Community Development, the Department of Social Development, the Department of Health and NGOs.
Another function of the Committee was to ensure that the further education and training needs of service providers were met with an emphasis on research and development in the province.
Naidoo is Head of UKZN’s Clinical Unit-Family Medicine and has worked in crisis centres at Addington Hospital and Prince Mshiyeni Mission Hospital as well as the Chatsworth and Pinetown District Surgeon’s Office over the past 10 years.
He graduated with a Masters degree in Family Medicine at UKZN in 2003 and a Masters of Law (Medical Law) degree in 2008 under the mentorship of Professor Jerome Singh. He attained his PhD in Medicine last year supervised by Professor Umesh Lalloo and Professor Singh. His thesis was titled: “Ethical Dilemmas Encountered by Critical Care Specialists in the Admission of HIV infected patients to Intensive Care”.
He was invited by the South African Medical Association to Chair and speak at the plenary session on HIV/AIDS and Gender-based violence at the 17th International Conference on AIDS and STI in Africa.
- Nombuso Dlamini
author : .author email : .Distinguished Teachers’ Award for Prolific Humanities Researcher
Professor Sarojini Nadar.Professor in the School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics, Professor Sarojini Nadar, will receive the Distinguished Teachers’ Award (DTA) for 2013 during UKZN’s Graduation ceremonies later this year.
The award is made every year to a maximum of four academics in the University to recognise and reward outstanding teaching.
‘I am absolutely delighted!’ said Nadar. ‘2013 has been a year of many professional challenges. The DTA award; my promotion to full professorship as well as being listed as a Prolific Researcher in the Annual Research Report, are for me vindication of my academic contribution and competence which I began to doubt in 2013. But these accolades have proven that I am in the right profession – and what I do is indeed a vocation.’
Having faced criticism over the years from academics both within the Humanities and the Sciences about the “soft” nature of the subjects she teaches as well as handling their questions about the place of these subjects in a university, Nadar said the award confirmed the importance of both these disciplines as teaching subjects within a university, particularly a university which aimed to be a “Premier University of African Scholarship”.
Asked what the secret was to being a great lecturer/teacher, Nadar said: ‘I began my teaching portfolio statement with a quote from poet William Butler Yeats: “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire”. This is my philosophy of education. I believe in not just “depositing” knowledge but in inspiring my students to be co-creators and co-producers of knowledge.
‘When a lecturer or teacher is passionate about a discipline, it will show in their teaching. My method of teaching involves participation and my assessments are designed not to trap students but to engage them. Furthermore, I do not believe that research and teaching are mutually exclusive – hence I always strive to infuse my research into my teaching.’
Dr Nyna Amin, the recipient of the 2012 UKZN Distinguished Teachers Award, said: ‘Working together in the doctoral cohort, it is quite apparent that Prof Nadar listens with intense concentration, irrespective of the discipline or research approach, and is able to provide appropriate critique. I have been impressed by both the depth and breadth of feedback she gives to students. The comments are intellectual, supportive and enabling.’
Reaction from family, friends and work colleagues has been positive. ‘An award like this is not only recognition of the individual but of the systems which support them. My husband and children are actually quite patient with my “OCD” with regard to work.
‘With regard to friends – there are so many who have been supportive of me in 2013 – one of the most challenging years of my life - but I want to single out Dr Saras Reddy who has been such a source of inspiration and assistance.
‘I can honestly say - and I do so sincerely and not as a cliché - that I owe this award to all those who have supported and assisted me. I also owe a special word of thanks to all my students without whom this award would not be possible. I am forever grateful for their inspiration and challenge, not to mention their patience when I was a Dean.’
Nadar was appointed Dean of Research for the College of Humanities in 2012. A prolific researcher, she has researched and published widely in the field of feminist biblical hermeneutics with a special focus on HIV and AIDS, gender-based violence, masculinity and sexuality. She also has a special interest in theories of feminism in Africa, and more recently an interest in gender in Higher Education.
In 2012, she received the Distinguished Young Women in Science Award (Human and Social Sciences) from the Department of Science and Technology.
She is considered one of UKZN’s top-published researchers and has a C2 rating from the National Research Foundation.
In 2010 she received the Top Published Woman Researcher at UKZN award, and also achieved the position of Top Published Researcher in the Faculty of Humanities, Development and Social Sciences and secured the second position among all UKZN researchers. The book “African Women, Religion and Health”, which she co-edited with Isabel Phiri in 2006, won both the UKZN’s Annual Book Prize Award for Best Edited Book, as well as a New York Catholic Press Award in the category of Gender.
‘It was not easy keeping a teaching profile while being a Dean for two years. Fortunately, supervision is considered as teaching and so I was very fortunate to still support my Masters and PhD students to completion, and to still publish in the area of feminist pedagogical theory and practice. While I am disappointed to leave the deanship in 2014, it is not a decision I took lightly. I am looking forward to returning to what I love best - teaching and research!’
- Melissa Mungroo
author : .author email : .Academic’s Research Wins Top Prize at Law Teachers Conference
Ms Willene HolnessUKZN Law academic Ms Willene Holness won the First Presenters’ Prize at the Society of Law Teachers of Southern Africa Conference hosted by the University of the Witwatersrand.
Holness’s winning paper was titled: “Unfit mothers: the Need for Law reform to Address the Removal of Children from Parents with Intellectual Disabilities in SA”.
The prize is presented annually to a law teacher presenting at the Conference for the first time.
The Conference gives South African legal education specialists access to both emerging and established law academics providing an opportunity to exchange ideas and research findings.
Holness’s paper was based on a literature review of the phenomenon of child removal from parents with intellectual disabilities following allegations of neglect. It was a comparative study, looking at empirical studies predominantly in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, and provided an analysis of relevant provisions in the South African Children’s Act of 2005 with regard to parents with disabilities and their children.
‘I analysed factors which place parents at risk of having their children removed from them on the basis of their intellectual disability.
‘These factors are: legal capacity, stereotypes of their parenting adequacy, lack of support from social services and lack of information about their legal rights, and lastly cumulative stressors such as poverty and poor mental and physical health.
‘The competition was fierce and I feel honoured to have been awarded the prize. The support of my colleagues in attendance at the Conference elevated the experience even further,’ said Holness.
Holness aims to further her research into this area as there is very little statistical data or empirical studies in South Africa and to complete her Doctors of Law degree.
- Thandiwe Jumo
author : .author email : .US Students at UKZN for Food Security Research
Food Security expert Dr Joyce Chitja (front, second from left) and Professor Albert Modi, Dean and Head of School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences (back left), with a delegation from Cornell University in the United States and members of UKZN’s Food Security discipline.UKZN’s School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences has for the third consecutive year hosted students from Cornell University in the United States to work on an ongoing partnership which explores issues of market access for small-scale farmers.
The group was again hosted by Dr Joyce Chitja, a Lecturer in the Discipline of Food Security. The Cornell delegation comprised two Masters students, Mr Steven Saavedra and Ms Sofia Yglesias, and a PhD student, Mr Zhen Han, who were led by Professor Anu Rangarajan, a senior Horticultural Scientist and Director of Cornell’s Small Farms Programme who has overseen the visits to UKZN since their inception.
The Cornell team is part of the Student Multidisciplinary Applied Research Team (SMART), a key programme of Cornell Institute of International Food, Agriculture and Development (CIIFAD) directed by Professor Ralph Christy, who was part of the first delegation to UKZN.
UKZN’s team, led by Chitja, included Mr Denver Naidoo, a PhD student and Lecturer in Food Security and Ms Suveshni Munien, a PhD student and Lecturer in Geography on the Westville campus. UKZN’s team was also joined by post-graduate Food Security students Mr Thami Majozi, Ms Hlengiwe Ngubane, Ms Thobeka Mkhize and Mr Vongai Murugani.
The group spent a week visiting Wartburg’s Gcumisa Traditional Authority in Swayimani to collect data, train farmers in partnership with the Zimele NGO and the Department of Agriculture and to meet small-scale farmers in the area.
The second week of their stay involved a market visit with the farmers and doing an intensive analysis of their results. The visit also included seminars and preliminary data outcomes discussions with agricultural stakeholders.
Rangarajan said similar issues experienced by farmers in the United States and in South Africa were explored with regard to providing market access.
‘We took farmers to a produce market which they had never even seen before although they supply it,’ said Han, indicating one of the highlights of the trip was being able to expose farmers to new ideas regarding how to use their produce for commercial gain.
The on-going partnership allows for a fruitful, cross-continental collaboration which examines numerous issues faced by small scale rural farmers, particularly when it comes to market access. The partnership has proved successful in furthering research around these challenges, allowing for long-term studies to provide data demonstrating progress in various areas.
Previous research was presented at the 1st International Conference on Global Food Security in Amsterdam last year.
- Christine Cuénod
author : .author email : .Plant Pathology Researchers Attend NRF Forum
(From left) Dr Iona Basdew, Dr Bernice Sivparsad and Dr Sharmane Naidoo.Three postdoctoral researchers working in the Discipline of Plant Pathology at UKZN attended the National Research Foundation’s 2013 Postdoctoral Research Forum in Stellenbosch.
It was the first time the researchers were able to attend the annual forum which aims to create a space for discussion and debate around issues facing postdoctoral researchers as well as to enable sharing information and offering support.
The three-day forum was hosted by the Human and Infrastructure Capacity Development (HICD) at Spier Resort in Stellenbosch.
The forum provided useful perspectives on research management from time management to dealing with funding.
UKZN researchers who attended were Dr Iona Basdew, Dr Benice Sivparsad and Dr Sharmane Naidoo.
This is the third year the event has been held and it attracted more than 200 delegates, mostly post-docs from all over South Africa.
Speaking about the forum, Naidoo, who focuses on plant breeding, said it had been useful in exposing her and her research colleagues to diverse and varying fields of research as well as giving an idea of what kind of work other postdoctoral researchers were interested in and how they went about it.
Naidoo said it was interesting to learn about other universities’ policies regarding postdoctoral researchers supervising Masters and PhD students.
‘The forum was very helpful in allowing us to gauge where UKZN fits into the scheme of university-based, postdoctoral research nationally,’ said Sivparsad, whose research concentrates on wheat, maize and various crop pathogens.
Basdew, whose research focuses on post-harvest fruit diseases, said a helpful aspect of the forum was a list provided which indicated what a postdoctoral researcher should aim to achieve, how to move internationally, how to collaborate on research successfully and how to deal with being in the postdoctoral “holding pattern” where one is not a student any longer but also not an employed academic or researcher either.
The forum provided good advice and techniques to help strike a balance between personal life and research.
‘It was helpful to hear other lecturers and professors talking about their experiences of balancing their personal life with their research,’ said Naidoo.
Highlights of the forum included a Fellows’ dinner, where mentors were placed at tables of researchers and chaired discussions around various topics. There was also a meet and greet event which followed the format of a “speed-dating” session, where researchers mixed with one another by circulating around a room in six-minute intervals and discussing their research with each other.
The diverse sessions also covered practical aspects such as starting a business by developing a product and selling it.
Naidoo, Sivparsad and Basdew agreed that a driving message of the forum was that of publishing in favour of quality, not quantity, in order to produce research with a higher impact factor. Researchers were encouraged to say yes to every opportunity for furthering the impact of their research and much of the forum provided helpful focus on career development.
Basdew said the forum was refreshing and very beneficial in terms of determining how they went about their research, especially since postdoctoral researchers tended to become isolated if not for opportunities such as this forum.
- Christine Cuénod
author : .author email : .Young Researchers Present LED Research in Spain
Researchers Ms Bakhetsile Dlamini and Ms Nolwazi Mthembu in Spain.Regional and Local Economic Development (LED) researchers, Ms Nolwazi Mthembu and Ms Bakhetsile Dlamini, recently explored and shared their research on South Africa’s local economic development with academics and students at the EOI Business School in Spain.
The pair is currently studying towards a masters degree with the Graduate School of Business and Leadership (GSB&L) under the Regional and Local Economic Development Initiative (RLEDi) - a partnership between UKZN and the Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DEDT).
The two week trip was sponsored by Dr Stanley Hardman’s research fund as he believes that the link with the EOI Business School is particularly useful as it creates opportunities for substantial reciprocal learning. Hardman, a former senior lecturer at the GSB&L retired from the University last year and recently assumed the role of Policy and Advocacy Manager at the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Mthembu and Dlamini explored the similarities and differences between South Africa and Spain and got an opportunity to engage with students from countries such as Ghana, Peru, Cost Rica and Colombia, to mention a few.
‘This diverse collaboration created powerful discussions around the similarities - both politically and socially - of our countries. Our programme is one of a kind and with more support and a little more financial push, we as change makers can make a difference and develop an entire continent’s reach,’ said Mthembu.
Dlamini added that the experience has also opened opportunities for collaborative research: ‘I believe that with Spain’s link we will be able to broaden our research thinking and explore other possibilities which will assist us as a nation and our local municipalities in getting experts to assist us with innovation and best practice.
‘We had the privilege of being in a class with people from all over the world which made things more interesting in understanding that what we see in the media is not what is happening on the ground. Issues of unemployment are evident everywhere, youth engagement in business is also growing, corruption is there, lack of employment for graduates is there.’
Mthembu and Dlamini delivered a presentation on their masters dissertations which are based around LED, Social Entrepreneurship and Policy, in particular the National Framework for LED.
‘I based my thesis on a case study in Ballito which I presented as an example to the group. This created a lot of interest in post conversations and questions that were being presented to me after I had presented my cases. This interested me a lot as it proved that South African cases are worth presenting to the world for best practice,’ said Mthembu.
The pair say the learning experience has served as inspiration for a research topic for their doctoral studies which they plan to pursue after completing their masters degree.
To view the presentation visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtsCcCxPxTI&feature=c4-overview&list=UUQ-cLpwRZtQlkwMMmJC6uqw
- Thandiwe Jumo
author : .author email : .Isifundiswa sithole umklomelo ophambili engqungqutheleni yezomthetho
uNksz Willene Holness.Isifundiswa sezomthetho saseUKZN uNksz Willene Holness uphume phambili waklonyeliswa ngomklomelo onikwa owethule inkulumo ezedlula zonke owaziwa ngele-First Presenters Prize engqungqutheleni yeSociety of Law Teachers of Southern Africa ebihlelwe yiNyuvesi yaseWitwatersrand.
Iphepha likaHolness elidle umhlanganiso belinesihloko esithi: “Omama abangekho esimweni sokuba abazali: Isidingo sezinguquko kwezoMthetho ukuze kubhekwane nodaba lokususwa kwezingane kubazali abanokukhubazeka ngokwengqondo eNingizimu Afrika”.
Lo mklomelo waminyaka yonke uklonyeliswa umfundisi osuke ethula inkulumo okokuqala ngqa kule ngqungquthela.
Le ngqungquthela inikeza labo abafundisa ngezomthetho eNingizimu Afrika ithuba lokuxhumana nabasafufusa kanye nongoti kwezomthetho ukuze bacobelelane ngemibono kanye nemiphumela yocwaningo oselwenziwe.
Iphepha likaHolness beligxile ekubuyekezweni kwemibhalo emayelana nokususwa kwabantwana kubazali abanokukhubazeka ngengqondo ngenxa yezinsolo zokunganakwa kwabantwana.
Bekuwukufunda okuqhathanisayo obekubheke izifundo zaseAustralia, eUnited Kingdom Kanye naseUnited States kwase kuhlaziya okuqukethwe yiSouth African Children’s Act yango2005 mayelana nabazali abakhubazekile kanye nabantwana babo.
‘Ngibheke izinto ezibeka abazali engozini yokuphucwa abantwana babo ngoba bekhubazekile ngokwengqondo. Lezi zinto: ububanzi bomthetho, izinkolelo ngokulungela kwabo ukuba abazali, ukungasekelwa abezenhlalakahle nokusweleka kolwazi mayelana namalungelo abo okokugcina izinto ezifaka ingcindezi njengobubha nokungabi sesimweni esiphilile ngokwengqondo nomzimba.
‘Umqhudelwano bewusezingeni eliphezulu kanti ngizizwa ngihloniphekile ngokunikezwa lomklomelo. Ukwesekelwa engikuthole kozakwethu ebesinabo kule ngqungquthela kuphakamisa izinga kakhulu,’ kusho uHolness.
UHolness uzimisele ngokuqhubeka nocwaningo lwakhe kulo mkhakha ngoba kunezibalomdanti ezincane kakhulu futhi nokufunda kulo mkhakha kuncane kakhulu futhi uzimisele nokukuqedela izifundo zakhe zeziqu zobuDokotela kwezoMthetho.
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- Thandiwe Jumo
author : .author email : .