Eastern Cape state doctors win medals for academic excellence

11 Aug 2024

Drs Adam Woodford and Adam Grant have been honoured for achieving outstanding results in their clinical exams while working in one of the province’s beleaguered hospitals during Covid.

In March 2021 a picture of a hunky, shirtless Dr Adam Woodford receiving his Covid-19 vaccine went viral as many South Africans swooned over the handsome physician, dubbing him “Dr McDreamy”.

“It was quite an unexpected surprise for me,” Woodford (34) laughed. “But I got to promote the vaccine and a chance to lead by example. We knew the vaccine was the way forward to fight Covid-19.”

Against the many odds and despite the brutal toll of the pandemic, Woodford has just received medals for distinguished results in his final exams to specialise in internal medicine.

In 2017, he won the AM Meyers medal for achieving the highest marks in the Fellowship of the College of Physicians of South Africa’s (FCP-SA) clinical exam part 1, and this year he received the Asher Dubb medal for achieving the same distinction in part 2 of the exam, which he took last year.

Woodford also received the Suzman medal for highest average marks in both exams combined, and the Ian Huskisson medal for best clinical candidate for 2023.

“It is an honour and a privilege to get these medals. Your cohorts are incredibly intelligent people. It could really go to anyone,” Woodford said.

In Gqeberha’s Livingstone Hospital with its high staff turnover, Woodford is one of the veterans. Having joined the state facility in 2015 as an intern, he was then sent to Kimberley for his community service. He returned in 2018 as a medical officer, and started his training as a specialist in internal medicine in 2017.

What makes Woodford’s medals all the more special is that he studied during incredibly trying times.

“I was working in internal medicine for the first two waves of Covid-19 and then in ICU for the third wave,” he said. “We took a big knock. In the aftermath of the pandemic, it took me a while to find motivation again. I was mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted at that point.”

The internal medicine department at the hospital bore the brunt of the pandemic. Woodford said he would start doing a ward round and, before he had finished, the patients he had seen at the start of his rounds would have died. “It was probably a good six months [later] that I felt that I could do this again. I am pretty sure I had brain fog. I couldn’t concentrate really well.

“We had our expected and unexpected limitations with resources. It can be a kick in the face and make one feel demotivated.”

However, he added: “The most rewarding thing for me is to serve this community, especially when the patients appreciate it. It does give you job satisfaction.”

Woodford’s colleague, Dr Adam Grant, also received the AM Meyers medal for the 2023 exam.

Positive vs negative

Livingstone Hospital makes the news most often for the multiple crises that have become part of the fabric of state hospitals in the Eastern Cape. But behind the scenes, the two doctors have been excelling.

They are the products of a specialist training programme at the hospital that has produced 20 specialist physicians, the bulk of whom still work in the public sector.

“We are fortunate to have many excellent physicians still in the state sector,” Woodford said. “There are too many to mention.

“The people who paved the way, who do what I do now, they set the way for us. I want to thank those in my class because they are excellent and I have learnt a lot from them. We help each other. They are all brilliant.”

Grant (33) joined Livingstone Hospital’s ICU in 2021 at the end of the pandemic.

“From young I knew I was going to do medicine,” he said. “Initially it is a combination of an interest in biology and in the medical field, but as you move through university, you see how much the country – and specifically the state sector – needs it.

“I enjoy working in the public sector. I want to help the people who need it, in the Eastern Cape even more so than perhaps other provinces because of the lack of resources and the number of patients per tertiary facility.

“There is a lot on the shoulders of doctors at tertiary hospitals, who have to give advice to doctors in hospitals four or five hours away with very little resources. Most of us have a calling to want to help.”

Grant continued: “When I got my marks, I thought they had made a mistake. I was just very, very happy. The phone call comes months later [after the exams].

“You know that you are in a field with an elite group of people writing these exams. I did not expect the call for the medal at all. I wasn’t aiming for it. I enjoyed studying, and it obviously paid off. I was very happy and excited to have received it. It motivates me for the second part [of the exam].”

Woodford and Grant both praised their colleagues for motivating them and helping them to get through.

“My journey has been quite short, but from my first encounter in ICU with the consultants there it has been amazing. They guided me to the decision I made to specialise in internal medicine,” Grant said.

“All the specialists in internal medicine have been incredibly welcoming and motivational. Being a slightly smaller training group provided us with so much back-up and assistance, learning and training, and helping us to be the best specialists we can be.

“Guys like Adam [Woodford] also really help us a lot. The same for those who are studying with me. We will help each other through until we are finished,” Grant said.

“This has been amazing. There is such a closely knit team that I have not seen elsewhere.

“It is easy to get lost in smaller pictures and it is easy to see a lot of negativity in the world. But in the world things are continuing to get better. Things will get better, even in South Africa – maybe slower, but it will get better.” DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.

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