Growing up in a home with two medical parents provided additional insight in this chosen field, and Wakithi Mabaso was always curious to understand the inner workings of the human body and its processes. His dream of making a tangible difference to mental health is edging closer with the announcement this week that he’s the recipient of a prestigious post-graduate scholarship to one of the world’s most notable universities.
Wakithi has been named a Rhodes scholar-elect for the 2022 intake to Oxford University, where he intends to read for an MSc in Global Health Science and Epidemiology, followed by an MSc in Clinical and Therapeutic Neuroscience. “As an aspiring clinician-scientist, interested in psychiatry, I hope to impact the landscape of mental health care provision for South Africa’s most vulnerable populations,” says the 25-year-old.
Since graduating cum laude from the University of Cape Town with an MBChB degree, he has just completed the second year of his medical internship at the Pietermaritzburg hospital complex. In 2019 he and a colleague, Dr Stefan van der Walt, published the largest study to be conducted on depression and anxiety in South African medical students.
A talented artist who has recently displayed at a number of exhibitions, at school he was part of the world-acclaimed Kearsney College choir and achieved eight distinctions in his IEB matriculation examinations, also represented his school at tennis, basketball, rugby and soccer.
Wakithi speaks five languages – English, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Afrikaans and German – and credits Kearsney’s unmatched academics and exposure to life for pushing him to forge his own identity. He also honours his parents. “My mother is a leader and trailblazer in her field of dermatology and was the first black African female dean and full professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) medical school, so it has been a privilege to learn from her. My father’s guidance that there will always be someone better than oneself, fostered in me a healthy self-concept and reinforced the values of internal motivation.”
Wakithi will embark on his community service this month, before beginning his Masters studies at Oxford in October.