The Head of DUT’s Biomedical and Clinical Technology Department Prof Jamila K Adam made history for being the first full professor to be inaugurated in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the DUT Hotel School Conference Centre, Ritson Campus, on Wednesday, 19 August 2015.
Various academics and staff members of the University including Prof Ahmed Bawa Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof Sibusiso Moyo – Research and Postgraduate Support Directorate Director, Dr Jairam Reddy-Chair of Council, Prof Thenjiwe Meyiwa, registrar, and Prof Suren Singh- Executive Dean: Faculty of Applied Sciences, to name but a few, all gathered at the inaugural lecture as a University community to commemorate an important milestone in the life of an outstanding academic whose career started three decades ago.
The inaugural lecture was held to celebrate the ascension of Dr Jamila K Adam to the status of full professor at DUT and celebrate her achievements as a scientist, supervisor of future scientists, role model and as a public intellectual.
Being able to help the sickly was her main goal and is what prompted her to do research in the areas of Clinical Intervention, Immunology, Microbiology, Histology, Toxicology, Applied Physiology and Nutrition. After obtaining numerous institutional and national research awards throughout her career, it was only apt she deliver her inaugural lecture titled: Guiding Medicine to Infinity and Beyond and make known the strides she had made, especially in the field of Clinical Technology, to further advance the evolution of medicine in the 21st century.
“My goal is for the DUT graduates of the department to be recognised as leading clinical and biomedical researcher in their specialist fields in order to provide patients with excellent care and treatment,” she said. Prof Adam also spoke of the role of a clinical technologist who performs all the necessary support using diagnostic corrective or therapeutic procedures on patients using specialised health technology and techniques for the treatment of physiological encounters. She also added that the innovative technologies have been found to improve the quality of healthcare and outcomes through early diagnosis, and that is the aim to improve the patients’ quality of life and encourage people to lead a healthy lifestyle.
Also, speaking at the event was Prof Bawa, who added that Prof Adam is also a very active member of the University community and played an integral role in the Institutional Research Ethics committee. “Her role of chairing the ethics committee is critically important as it tries to ensure that the research that is done by the University is not harmful to people, the environment and the research is done properly,” he said.
Other accolades were also given by people she has worked with or taught in the medical industry, one of them being the esteemed Prof Salim Abdool Karim from the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), who said that the age-old rites-of-passage was bestowed on those worthy of a title in entering the professorship. “This is a richly deserved honour and befitting your contributions both to academia and to medical science, a major achievement and milestone in an academic’s career,” he said.
Another academic, Dr Rakesh Mohanlall, a former DUT student of Prof Adam, added that Prof Adam had encouraged and guided him through his studies for his Master’s degree which was converted into a Doctorate degree. “This also made me the first person in the world to achieve a Doctorate degree in Cardiovascular Perfusion. This was all made possible with the assistance and guidance of Prof Adam, for which I am eternally grateful,” he said.
Prof Adam, a 16 times research award winner, worked with the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) before joining the former ML Sultan (now DUT) in 1984. At DUT, Prof Adam has taught a variety of subjects in a number of programmes. Her awards include Top Women Researcher, Top University Publisher of the Year and Faculty Researcher of the Year awards. Her most recent awards are the International Fellowship Award and Fellowship of the Association of Biotechnology and Pharmacy (FABAP).
Prof Adam has supervised research projects of more than 340 Bachelor of Technology students and 45 postgraduate students from various institutions around South Africa. She is currently an external examiner for postgraduate students both nationally and internationally. She also serves as the Vice-Chairperson of the Health Professional Council of South Africa (HPCSA).
Prof Adam also received four academic awards in India in December 2012. She was invited to attend the Association of Biotechnology and Pharmacy’s 6th Annual Convention and International Conference which was held from 20-22 December 2012 where an international Honorary Fellowship Award was conferred upon her. Prior to the conferment, she delivered a lecture titled “The effect of Optimising Cerebral Tissue Oxygen’s Saturation on Markers of Neurological Injury During Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery” which discussed the importance of keeping oxygen saturation in the body at a constant level during a bypass surgery in the coronary artery.
She based her talk on a research study undertaken by one of her PhD students.
Prof Adam has also developed a comprehensive 60 page handbook for students registered for the Btech Degree in Clinical Technology, and coordinated the development and compilation of a 9O page Survival Manual for students that had registered for Research Methodology in The Departments of Clinical Technology, Biomedical Technology and Radiography.
—Waheeda Peters
