It was with pride and anticipation that the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria hosted its second Doctoral Celebration of 2015 on 2 September.

At this occasion, the ceremony was for two graduates from the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases and one from the Department of Anatomy and Physiology. The three graduates were Ms Fulufhelo Amanda Doboro and Ms Nomakorinte Gcebe, both from the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, and Ms Modesta Liku John Makangu from the Department of Anatomy and Physiology.

 After a warm welcome by the Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Science, Prof Darrell Abernethy, the newly employed Head of the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Prof Tshepo Matjila, introduced the supervisors for his department’s graduates, namely Prof Stephen Njiro (Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute – Ms Doboro) and Prof Anita Michel (Ms Gcebe) while Prof Herman Groenewald, Head of the Department of Anatomy and Physiology introduced Ms Makungu for whom he also acted as supervisor.

The new PhD graduates each presented their study findings to those present. Their PhD studies reflected the respective diverse fields of their research and ranged from Molecular analysis of ovine herpes virus 2 strains in South Africa (Ms Doboro) to the occurrence and molecular characterization of non-tuberculosis mycobacteria in cattle, African buffalo and their environments in South Africa and genomic characterization and proteomic comparison with Mycobacterium bovis (Ms Gcebe), and lastly, aspects of the morphological, radiographic and ultrasonographic anatomy of the red panda and ring-tailed lemur (Ms Makungu).

The first Doctoral event in April this year celebrated the achievements of 9 PhD candidates from the Faculty.