Med student beats the odds for award

WHEN Nadia Youssef moved to Wales from Oman at the age of 14 she could barely speak a word of English.

But despite the language barrier – and thanks partly to the songs of Britney Spears – she managed to gain an A*, two As and two B grades in her A-levels just a few short years later.

And now she has been given a top award for overcoming the odds to study medicine at Cardiff University.

She said: “I hope my story, as well as the stories of many other graduate entry medical students, will motivate others to always follow their dreams and do whatever it takes to achieve them.”

Nadia, now 22, said it was a frightening experience joining a Welsh secondary school in Cwmbran.

“I thought there would be a lot of other Arabs at the school but there was no-one,” she said.

“My brothers and I hung around together during breaks, but we settled in quickly.”

Nadia said she had a rather unconventional method of learning English when she first arrived in the UK from the Arabian peninsula.

“I started listening to the radio and learning the lyrics of songs,” she said.

“Britney Spears and Maroon 5 were popular at the time. I also received a lot of support from my English teacher.”

After achieving an A grade in GCSE English language, which she said was “a big shock”, she began pursuing her passion for the sciences.

She initially failed her chemistry and biology AS exams and received no offers from university medical school as a result.

She added: “After being rejected, I was crushed because I worked very hard on my GCSEs and A-levels. I thought that my medical career was over before it had even started.”

But perseverance prevailed and at the end of her A-levels, which she passed with flying colours, she found the Medical Sciences course at the University of South Wales (USW).

Speaking of Nadia’s determination, Lewis Fall, leader of the Medical Sciences course at USW, said: “Nadia was a wonderful student. She finished at the top of her class in years one and two, and graduated top of her class.

“She served as her class representative, student voice representative and student ambassador on all recruitment events.”

After completing her course, Nadia had interviews from every medical school she applied to and accepted a place at Cardiff University’s School of Medicine, where she has just entered year two of the five-year course.

In recognition of her overcoming the odds to study medicine, Nadia has now been awarded BMA Cymru Wales’ Sherman Fund Award which encourages wider access to medical studies within Wales.

She was presented with her prize, and a £5,000 cash boost, last night at the BMA Cymru Wales/BMJ Clinical Teacher of the Year Awards 2017 held at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff.

Nadia said: “It is a great honour to be nominated for this wonderful award because it acknowledges the hard work that non-traditional medical students put in.

“It certainly isn’t something I expected back in 2008 when my family moved to this country from Oman and I couldn’t speak English at all.”