Graduating with a MBChB degree in medicine is already a remarkable achievement, but to do so with cum laude honours seems impossible. For Dr Nabeela Kajee however, there is no such thing as the impossible. It is also why she became the recipient of the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship for Postgraduate Study at the University of Oxford.
Nabeela, who is from Cape Town, is already a medical doctor, having completed her 6 year degree, two-year internship at Groote Schuur Hospital and currently completing her community service at Mitchells Plain Hospital. She graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) degree back in 2016, doing so with cum laude honours. This means that she graduated with distinction, having obtained a total aggregate of more than 75%, a remarkably tough aggregate to achieve. For her efforts, she was awarded the Dean’s Medal for being the Best Undergraduate Student at Stellenbosch’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Also in 2016, she was also one of two medical students from Stellenbosch that had the opportunity to visit the Utrecht Medical Centre’s (UMC) Summer School in the Netherlands. She says that during this trip, the locals were fascinated by the Afrikaans that they spoke.
To add to her list of prestige, Nabeela also completed her medical electives at Oxford University as well as the Ivy League university in the US, Cornell. Her academic writing has been published in academic journals on the topics of Medical Education, Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) and Medical Humanities.
Of the scholarship, she says that “becoming a Rhodes Scholar is an honour”. “It offers me the remarkable opportunity to explore my education further in a deeply enriching environment,” says Nabeela. She adds that she wants to use this opportunity to “grow and create lasting networks” so that she can give back to her country and community.
The Rhodes Scholarship is the oldest and one of the most prestigious international scholarship programmes in the world. It aims to identify and fund the world’s most exceptional young people for postgraduate study at the University of Oxford in the UK. Former recipients have gone on to become presidents of countries and scientific icons. Notable recipients include former US president, Bill Clinton and the South African struggle martyr, Bram Fischer.
Having already completed her degree in medicine, she will be registering at Oxford as a PhD student with her research focused on medicine, medical education and mental health. She wants to contribute to “creating innovative solutions, for healthier and happier communities”. She believes that medical doctors plays a crucial role in building the country through providing better quality healthcare to all South Africans.