CURRENT final year medical student at UKZN, 24-year-old Kumeren Govender, has been awarded the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship 2018 for travel, living and study expenses at Oxford University, England.
Govender plans to pursue a PhD degree at Oxford, which was recently ranked as number one in the world by The Times Higher Education World Rankings of Universities, in an interdisciplinary field of artificial intelligence (deep learning), big data and complex systems.
“The aim of this is to use big data from healthcare systems or genomic data to solve complex healthcare threats including patterns of diseases such as the emergence of drug-resistant TB or antibiotic resistance, which is predicted to be the number one cause of death by 2050,” he said.
Govender’s numerous academic accomplishments began when he completed his Grade 12 year with 12 distinctions from Durban’s Star College. Accepted into UKZN’s medial programme, he continued to soar and during his undergraduate years of study published three peer reviewed articles, written letters to editors and presented papers at conferences.
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He joined the Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) as a research placement and has been mentored by renowned scientists, Professor’s Salim and Quarraisha Abdool Karim, who inspired him to develop an interest in clinical science. He also acknowledges his supervisor Dr Yoshan Moodley who has been instrumental in every step of his development.
Altruistic at heart, Govender is also actively involved in the community and coordinates numerous charity events and awareness campaigns.
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He believes art is an integral part of the development of each human being and enhances the process of learning. As such, he plays numerous instruments and the highlight of his music career was playing in a classical violin concert in Frankford, Germany.
Looking to the future he said he hoped to bridge knowledge from developed worlds to developing worlds and contribute to pioneering innovative and interdisciplinary solutions that are globally relevant to ultimately improve the lives of those burdened by diseases.
Govender will spend a few months studying classical music in India before heading off to Oxford University late next year.
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