Obituary Mourning alumna Annelene J. Amirana

Heidelberg University mourns the loss of its alumna Dr Annelene J. Amirana: the physician, who together with her husband Dr Mahomed T. Amirana established the Amirana Scholarship to support Heidelberg students and doctoral candidates in medicine and dentistry from countries in the Global South, has passed away at the age of 94. "With Annelene Amirana's passing, the University has lost a dedicated alumna who, together with her husband Mahomed, has been an exemplary advocate for aspiring medical professionals from the Global South in recent years. Her generosity has had a decisive positive impact on the lives of a large number of young people," emphasises HAI Director Silke Rodenberg.

Annelene and Mahomed Amirana, now 95,  met in the 1950s while studying medicine together at Heidelberg University. Out of gratitude for the fact that Mahomed's studies in Heidelberg, which had a decisive influence on his life, had been made possible by a scholarship, the couple set up a scholarship fund with a generous donation. Since 2016, this fund has been used to support Heidelberg students and doctoral candidates in (dental) medicine who come from countries in the Global South and find themselves in difficult financial circumstances. By the end of 2025, the fund, which the couple and other alumni of Heidelberg University regularly replenished with further donations, had already supported 44 students from 24 countries, enabling them to concentrate fully on their academic work.

Annelene came from Silesia and moved to Heidelberg in 1954 to study medicine. There she met and fell in love with her fellow student Mahomed, who originally came from a small town in the Indian state of Gujarat and had already begun studying medicine at Ruperto Carola a year earlier. While studying together, he took over the experiments for her and her friend in the physics laboratory, while she wrote the reports for all the experiments: “I was better at the experiments and she was better at writing,” Mahomed recalled. After graduating in 1958, he went to the US, where it was easier to find a job in a hospital, and sent his girlfriend $50 every month to Germany so she could save up for a plane ticket. A year later, after graduating, Annelene followed him to the US, where the two quickly got married. While Mahomed became a surgeon specializing in lung diseases, Annelene became an anesthetist. The couple has two sons, a daughter, and several grandchildren.  

“I owe everything to Heidelberg. Otherwise, I would never have met my wife and never become a doctor,” said Mahomed Amirana at the founding of the scholarship fund, explaining the joint commitment of the couple, who were married for 66 years, to Ruperto Carola. “We are delighted to be able to help,” emphasized Annelene at the time.