A week of glorious graduations ended on a high as hundreds of graduates from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU)’s Faculty of Health and Life Sciences collected their degrees.
They were joined by two very special honorands – Holocaust survivor Eva Clarke and Dr Gordon Muirhead, vice-president of Global Manufacturing and Supply for GlaxoSmithKline.
Both had tremendous words of advice for the Class of 2015, who were graduating from the Leicester School of Pharmacy and the School of Nursing and Midwifery.
Dr Muirhead was made an Honorary Doctor of Science in recognition of the work done at GSK to develop medicines for patients all over the world.
He said: “It’s a completely unexpected honour. I work in the pharmaceutical industry we get to do wonderful things around the world, we make people feel better and that’s fantastic but to have something like this – it’s a really humbling experience for me.”
He told graduands, many of whom were being presented with Pharmacy degrees, that even though they may never see the patient, they should keep them in the forefront of their mind. “With their trust comes great responsibility,” he said.
In the afternoon graduands heard the inspirational story of Holocaust survivor Eva Clarke, who was bring made Honorary Doctor of Laws. Eva was born in Mauthausen Concentration Camp, a day after the gas chambers were blown up. Fifteen of her close family were killed. Amazingly, she and her mother survived.
She now works for the Holocaust Education Trust and the Anne Frank Trust, telling her mother’s story so as many people as possible know about the atrocities and learn from them.
She told graduands: “My mother would have been proud to say, ‘my daughter the Doctor of Laws’, not least because she had studied law in 1938, until Hitler closed all the Czech universities.
“Each and every one of you has the power to change the world. You can’t change the past but you can change the future.”
Outside in the Saturday sunshine, selfies were snapped, graduates hugged and proud families offered their congratulations.
Sisters Nabeela and Mumtaz Ibrahim both graduated in Pharmacy. They said studying together had been a fantastic experience and now they are both working in Leicester pharmacies. “Doing the same course has been really great,” said Mumtaz. “We have been able to support each other.”
Saj Shah, from Bradford, is doing his pre-reg year in a hometown pharmacy. “The ceremony was incredible. That feeling when we got our degrees was so emotional - I wish I could keep it.”
Xara Graves was cheered on by daughter Emma as she collected her BSc (Hons) in Health-Related Studies. She said: “I’ve been a nurse working in practice for 12 years. Studying research and leadership and management, and child development has helped me in my practice.”
“I’ve loved being at DMU,” added Claire Nichola Taylor, who has graduated in mental health nursing. “There’s been a lot of tears today.”
Posted on Saturday 18 July 2015