Cape Town - A clinical trial that Stellenbosch University’s Dr Yolandi Swart was part of as a child living with diabetes led her to pursue a career path in health and medicine, where she has been achieving outstanding academic results.
On Tuesday, she reached the pinnacle of academic success graduating with a PhD in Human Genetics.
At the tender age of 9, Swart was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and between four to six times a day, she would inject herself with insulin.
“I always thought this would be a disadvantage in my life, but it made me more sympathetic towards people living with chronic diseases and those individuals who don’t have the same resources to treat diabetes.
“This also made me realise that children with type 1 diabetes in poorer communities might not get the adequate health care as they should be and it can be difficult to follow a healthy lifestyle in such circumstances,” said Swart.
Pursuing her dream, Swart decided to study human life sciences and genetics. She achieved excellent results in her undergraduate and postgraduate studies so much so that her Master’s degree was upgraded to a PhD in 2019. This only happens on rare occasions in academia.
With a PhD under her belt, Swart plans to continue with biomedical research as a post-doctoral fellow at Stellenbosch University in 2023.
She said that her academic achievements proved that you can still pursue your dreams even if you have a chronic health condition.
“There is unfortunately a lot of stigma around type 1 diabetes, in particular, and many people, without having the full knowledge of your condition, will give you unwarranted advice that can be discouraging.”
Cape Times