Rami is in his final year studying Medicine at our Malta campus and was awarded a Scholarship for Excellence in recognition of his outstanding academic achievements. Rami is now looking forward to completing his training as a Foundation Year 1 doctor.
My name is Rami, and I am half Italian and half Jordanian. I was born in Italy, but my family and I moved to Jordan where I completed my school education before moving on to study at the Queen Mary University campus in Malta, where I am now.
I am in my fifth year, studying MBBS Medicine, and I am currently completing my elective in clinical placements in Trauma and Orthopaedics and Gastroenterology, getting ready to start working in the UK in August! My course has gone really well, and the clinical years have definitely been my favourite part. This course can be demanding, but providing patient-centred care and seeing the results of my hard work reminds me how much I enjoy it, and this motivates me to keep going.
When applying to various universities, Queen Mary University of London stood out as a strong option right from the start, but the fees in the UK for international students were very high, which made studying in Malta a more feasible option, ultimately leading me to study there instead of the London campus. During my clinical years, I have completed placements in both Gozo and Malta. The smaller hospital in Gozo was brilliant as the staff were a close-knit team of professionals, and I quickly got to know all the doctors, which made it a very friendly environment to learn and develop my clinical skills in. On the other hand, the larger hospital in Malta exposed me to lots of different clinical variations, which allowed me to expand my existing knowledge and continue to apply the theories and research I had studied in my earlier years. In the summer, I will be moving to the UK where I will complete my further training and transition from being a medical student to an FY1.
When I found out I had been awarded a Scholarship for Excellence, I was totally surprised, and I really didn’t expect it at all. I was so happy, and it made me feel that all the hours of hard work and the sacrifices I made have paid off. I had previously been awarded 2nd place in the Sutton Prize for Best Student in the student-selected component 4 (SSC4) and 1st place in the Heath and Skynner Prize for Best Student in Human Development and Child Health, so this Excellence Scholarship was yet another incredible recognition and one I am very proud of. My parents are so proud, and I am very grateful for the acknowledgment and praise throughout my time here at Queen Mary.
I am fortunate to have been supported by my parents, and before receiving this award, I was managing well; however, traveling to the UK and settling there will be costly so this award will go a long way in providing some security during that transition period. I think students worry about money a lot. There is always a feeling of guilt about using my parents’ money that they worked hard for, but they have always supported me and have never made me feel bad for accepting it. Accommodation is cheaper in Malta, but living costs are still expensive, and the university resources are also costly, so finances are always on my mind despite my fortunate position to have family support. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for students who don’t have the support networks or access to funds that I do, which makes me even more grateful for my position and the generous donations from Queen Mary Alumni to support the Annual Fund.
Looking to the future, I ultimately want to become a surgeon and work in either vascular surgery or trauma and orthopaedics. I would like to have a rich academic side to my career, so I hope to complete a master’s or PGCert to pursue further research following the enjoyment I had working on my dissertation titled ‘The Role of Faecal Microbiome in Inflammatory Bowel Disease’. You can read Rami’s published research paper here.
I would like to say a huge thank you to the generous individuals who have come together to fund my Excellence Scholarship. Working in the medical environment is tough, and it’s very easy to compare yourself to others, especially as a medical student. This award has reminded me that I am worthy, I am where I am meant to be, and it has given me a lot of confidence and motivation to keep working towards my goals. This award will go such a long way in pushing me to reach for my ambitions and will hugely support my transition period when I start my training as a Foundation Year 1 doctor.