Graduation week brings double delight for Yvonne

Dr Yvonne Wedekind will collect her Masters of Medical Education in the Caird Hall on Friday, just two days after watching her son, Nadeem, graduate with a First Class MA in English and Film.

A GP Clinical Teacher at Dundee Medical School, Dr Wedekind says that this week’s ceremonies will be cause for a double celebration.

“Graduation is always a happy occasion, but this year will be particularly special for me,” she said.

“Nadeem has worked incredibly hard and while it would have been nice to graduate together, he deserves to have all of the attention to himself on his big day. Last year, my other son, Raheem, graduated from Dundee with a Masters in Mathematics, so it has been a very studious household recently.”

A doctor with NHS Tayside’s out-of-hours service, Yvonne has been teaching at the University’s School of Medicine for six years. Having taught medical students in practice, Yvonne returned to studying herself after deciding she would like to pursue her passion for teaching.

She continued, “Studying is part of my role as a doctor as we need to keep our skills and knowledge up to date, so coming back to University was not something that worried me. The main difference was getting into new concepts of studying, covering things like teaching psychology and educational theory, which were new to me.

“I was also distance learning for the first time. Before I had always been used to having other students to turn to, so that took some adjustment at first, but the whole experience has been incredibly rewarding.”

As a University staff member, Yvonne has helped hundreds of students on the way to their careers in healthcare. As she prepares to join them on stage this week, she added, “I never get tired of graduation week. It’s a great spectacle and everybody is excited about the occasion.

“As well as celebrating with my son, what will also be different this time is that I will be graduating along with final-year medical students that I’ve taught. I hope I don’t feel like an imposter by sharing a stage with them, but I am excited about the prospect of another memorable day.”