UKZN Medical School alumnus Dr Ashlin Rampul says he was humbled to be named the Africa Health Excellence Awards Society’s Health Care Mentor of the Year in recognition of his commitment to mentoring young specialists and scientists in Africa.
Rampul received almost 10 000 votes from healthcare practitioners all over Africa for the accolade.
Rampul completed his matric in 2004 at Mountview Secondary in Verulam, where he was head boy. He was accepted into UKZN’s Bachelor of Medical Science programme in 2005, completing his Honours in Physiology cum laude, before joining the University’s MBChB programme, and going on to hold the position of Secretary General and Deputy President of the Student Representative Council.
Rampul’s internship was at RK Khan Hospital and he did his community service at the Church of Scotland Hospital, which moulded him into becoming an activist for healthcare in communities.
In 2017, he joined the specialist programme in chemical pathology at the University of Pretoria, completing his specialist training in 2021.
Rampul said he had always been passionate about mentorship, research and the teaching of healthcare practitioners. He has been an organiser and participant in several local and international conferences, including the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine WorldLab Congress in Seoul, South Korea, where he was a speaker and the organiser. He was also a speaker at the Euromed Conference in Germany and at an Asia Pacific Conference in Jaipur, India, establishing the first Young Specialist Forum for Africa in Cairo, Egypt in 2024.
He continues to organise scholarships for healthcare practitioners in Africa, promoting the development of laboratory medicine on the continent.
Rampul said he was passionate about exposing young healthcare practitioners and scientists to international conferences, where the latest advances in laboratory medicine are shared by captains of industry. He arranged various webinars and seminars for healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, enjoyed the Africa Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (AFCC) Conference in Morocco and was recognised for this commitment to laboratory medicine at the Malaysian Association of Clinical Biochemists conference in 2024.
Rampul is currently a core member of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine Task Force for Young Scientists, being the first in South Africa to hold the position.
He is the scientific officer for the South African Association of Clinical Biochemistry and Lab Medicine, a steering committee member of the College of Medicine Young Specialist Forum, and the former chairperson of AFCC’s Young Scientist Task Force.
Currently a chemical pathologist for PathCare – a private laboratory in South Africa – Rampul said his major ambition was promoting young specialists and scientists – ‘mentoring them as they are the future of medicine.’
Words: Lunga Memela
