Dr Tshiamo Ramalepa.
Sharing his visions, the newly capped Dr Ramalepa said; “My dream has always been to complete my PhD at age 30 and become one of the youngest PhD holders in the nursing profession. That long awaited dream has been achieved at TUT’s virtual graduation ceremony on 1 June. My next big dream and future plan is complete an MBA and further grow and develop as an academic.”
The Rustenburg born young man from Mogwase is no stranger to firsts. In 2021 Tshiamo became the first Postdoctoral Research Fellowship recipient at TUT’s Adelaide Tambo School of Nursing Science. He is active in addressing issues of teenage reproductive health on national and regional radio stations.
In 2020, he was awarded and named in the 200 Influential Young South Africans by the Mail & Guardian and in 2021, he was listed in the 100 Most Influential Young South Africans list by Avance Media, recognising the academic progress and his role in the field of Soccer development. He was furthermore acknowledged for his leading role in taking the Brits Soccer Academy to Manchester, England, where they won a number of silver medals. He has also secured full sports scholarships for two young boys at Varsity College and further exposed more to semi-professional and professional teams.
Tshiamo completed his school career at the JM Ntsime High school in 2007 and thereafter enrolled in TUT’s B tech extended nursing programme (foundation) in 2008. During his undergraduate years he was a regular member of the TUT soccer team that went on to win the 2011 USSA competition. He completed his BTech in Nursing in 2012 and started to work as a registered nurse at the Department of Health.
In 2015, Tshiamo enrolled for TUT’s MTech Nursing programme and graduated in October 2017. He subsequently completed a Postgraduate diploma in Public Health at UNISA and a Nursing Education diploma at the University of Pretoria, following which he enrolled in TUT’s PhD programme in 2018.
After moving from the public sector in 2016, Tshiamo worked for National Renal Care as a dialysis practitioner and then at the Mediclinic Brits, as a hospital Clinical coder. Since 2015, Tshiamo has been working as a part-time lecturer at TUT’s nursing department.
“I really enjoy my postdoctoral research fellowship at Adelaide Tambo School of Nursing Science, where I teach second and final years to do research, while I also supervise masters and PhD students,” Tshiamo said.
He also regularly writes and publishes articles.