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Graduation produces biggest group of doctors, most distinctions
Author: FMHS Marketing & Communication / FGGW Bemarking & Kommunikasie
Published: 11/12/2018

​More than 830 health sciences students were capped today at Stellenbosch University's (SU) December graduation ceremony.

Four-hundred-and-twenty of these are newly-minted health professionals obtaining their undergraduate degree from SU's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS). A total of 277 students received their medical (MB,ChB) degrees, making it the largest 'annual crop' of medical graduates at the FMHS yet. This group also has the most students obtaining their MB,ChB degrees cum laude, with 26 graduates passing with distinction.

The FMHS's crop of undergraduate degrees also include 51 graduands of the Bachelor's degree in Occupational therapy, 45 students receiving the BSc in Physiotherapy, 26 graduands of the BSc in Dietetic, and 22 students graduating with Bachelor's degree in Speech-Language and Hearing Therapy.

Medals were awarded to the top performing students in the faculty, and in each individual programme. Two graduates tied for the position of top-performing student overall – the award was shared between Elanie Antoinette van Schalkwyk, a Speech-Language and Hearing Therapy student who achieved an average of 83.38% over her four-year programme, and the MB,ChB student Sean Anderson, who achieved an 81,723% average over the six years of her programme. Lebogang Nthabiseng Mohlala received the Dean's Award for Excellence in Leadership.

Van Schalkwyk also received the medal for top achievement in her programme, while Maxine Smit received the medal for the MB,ChB programme, Charlotte Ann Lovemore received the medal for the B of Occupational Therapy programme, Tayla Saaiman for the BSc in Dietetics, and Chanté van Rooyen for the BSc in Physiotherapy.

The class of 2018 is also the first group of graduands to recite a combined pledge including all health professionals trained by the faculty. This pledge is made in public to uphold the values of the faculty and the profession they are joining.

Seventeen PhDs were awarded by the FMHS at this year's graduation. A special recipient is the FMHS Vice Dean: Learning and Teaching, Prof Julia Blitz, who received her PhD in Health Professions Education. Other recipients include Dr Karin Baatjes, who head the FMHS' Division of Clinical Anatomy, Dr Tony Garcia-Prats, a medical director at the Desmond Tutu TB Centre, Mrs Lee-Ann Jacobs-Nzuzi Khuabi, a lecturer with the Division of Occupational Therapy, Mrs Mariana van der Heever, a lecturer at the Department of Nursing and Midwifery, and Dr Elisabetta Walters, from the Department of Paediatrics. 

A further 117 Master's degrees, 46 Honours degrees and 248 postgraduate diplomas were also awarded by the FMHS.