AwardHeidelberg medical student receives DAAD Prize
14 December 2021
Ahmad Mohammad honoured for his academic achievements and his social engagement
Ahmad Mohammad from the Medical Faculty Mannheim has received the DAAD Prize for international students for his academic achievements and his social engagement. Prof. Dr Marc-Philippe Weller, Vice-Rector for International Affairs at Heidelberg University, extended warm congratulations as he presented the award, for which the German Academic Exchange Service donates prize money of 1,000 euros. In his reply, the medical student from the Kurdish part of Syria said, “I would like to encourage all international students, particularly the migrants, to get socially involved during their courses.” In keeping with Covid-19 precautions the event took place with a reduced audience in the Great Hall of the Old University.
Ahmad Mohammad first started studying dentistry, but then, he says, changed to human medicine out of enthusiasm for the medical subjects. Now he is in his third semester at Medical Faculty Mannheim. Apart from his outstanding academic performance as one of the best of his year, the medical student is socially engaged in many different ways. For example, since 2019 he has been active in the community interpreting network of Diakonie Heidelberg, supporting people who do not speak German well, e.g. on visits to public authorities. Furthermore, he runs errands for people from risk groups or in quarantine, as part of Covid-19 assistance. Not the least of Ahmad Mohammad’s accomplishments has been to join fellow students in founding the MAIS – Marecum working group for international students. Its purpose is to help international students get used to life at the Medical Faculty Mannheim by assisting them with social and cultural issues, along with particular aspects of the course. PD Dr Gerold Brüning, coordinator of biochemistry classes at the Medical Faculty Mannheim, put forward Ahmad Mohammad’s name for this year’s DAAD Prize.
