Tell us a bit about your path.
I was born and raised in a city in the south of Zimbabwe called Bulawayo, however I am also a Portuguese citizen by descent. Despite living in Zimbabwe for the vast majority of my life I’ve also lived in New Zealand and in England for some time. Despite moving around my family always found its way back to Zimbabwe. In October, I’ll be starting my PhD studies in Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge. As part of my thesis I will be investigating and developing new methods to treat Tauopathies; a subset of diseases which lead to neurodegeneration, the most famous of which being Alzheimer’s disease.
What attracted you to Jacobs?
In all honesty, I had never heard of Jacobs until the application period when I was applying elsewhere. Upon discovering the university, I was initially impressed by the degree of diversity within the student population, as being part of an international community was important to me since I had traveled so much growing up. The prospect of studying in English in Germany was also extremely attractive as I could study in a language that I was comfortable with and also had the opportunity to explore a region of the world I had never been to previously. After doing more research, I realized that the Biochemistry and Cell Biology major offered by the university was exactly what I had been looking for in terms of content and the early opportunities for practical experience. One of the most important factors was also that Jacobs was so generous with the financial aid package they gave me, making coming here much more affordable.