Meet Sanesha Naicker, a UP graduate who was recently honoured at Global Health and Pharma Magazine’s 2019 Alternative Medicine & Holistic Health Awards.

The awards acknowledge the contribution and achievement of professionals who have improved the lives of others, and recognise those who go the extra mile to offer relief and reassurance in areas that traditional medicine cannot.

It’s not just GHP Magazine that’s recognised the KwaZulu-Natal-born cancer researcher, who received a UP Bachelor of Science Honours degree in Human Cell Biology in 2011. Naicker won International Woman of the Year as well as Leading Woman of the Year at the Divas of Colour Awards, which honour women of colour around the world.

“I feel blessed, honoured and ecstatic to have received those awards,” says Naicker. “I did not expect to win two categories. It is a huge achievement for me, being a small-town girl from Havenside in Chatsworth to be chosen among high-profile individuals globally. I am very blessed to have achieved this, not just for myself but for my parents as well, as they made every sacrifice to pay for my education.”

Naicker says she was inspired to fulfil her late grandmother’s wish to show the world her potential by conducting research into breast cancer and cardiovascular disease. This was accompanied by the fact that her late grandmother had a cardiovascular disease and that some of her friends who eventually died of breast cancer did not know they had the disease.

Naicker’s motivation also stemmed from the fact that while there had been various campaigns highlighting breast cancer, none were aimed at young women and men. “Young women are often poorly informed about breast cancer and early detection,” she says. “Early detection, screening, risk reduction treatment and management are important. This was the driving force that got me to research the illness.”

Her education at UP, Naicker says, gave her the chance to deepen her knowledge in an inspiring, creative and cosmopolitan environment. “My degree and education at UP holds me in good stead as I embark on research and my future goals.”