Dr Jonathan Spanos, Class of 2010, was be the Guest Speaker at our Junior Academic Awards Ceremony on Friday 1 February.
Jonathan was born in Durban and attended Durban Prep, followed by Durban High School from 2006-2010; he was a Prefect, House Prefect, member of the RCL, a member of DYC and he played Rugby and Basketball. Jonathan graduated as Dux in 2010 with a number of subject prizes. In the National Senior Certificate he placed 1st for History in the Umlazi District (with 100%) and 3rd overall in the Umlazi District.
He was awarded the Cencil Renaud scholarship by the DHS Trusts and attended UCT from 2011-2017 where he completed both a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBChB) simultaneously, with an honours degree, viz. Bachelor of Medical Science in Infectious Disease and Immunology.
Jonathan completed his B MedSci (Hon) in 2015, being awarded the degree in the first class. His thesis, entitled ‘Neuronal-T-Cell Interactions in Central Nervous System Tuberculosis’ examined the immune response to brain and spinal tuberculosis, following on from pioneering work from the Jacobs Lab that neurons are hosts of TB mycobacteria. He subsequently became the first honours student to publish a review article in a peer-reviewed journal, viz. Frontiers of Cellular Neuroscience. The article, entitled ‘Microglia are crucial regulators in central nervous system Tuberculosis,’ examined the potential role these cells have in CNS-TB infections, in the hopes of improving treatment and diagnosis.
Whilst completing his honours degree, he completed his medical degree and graduated in 2017 from the University of Cape Town, being awarded the MBChB degree with honours.
Jonathan was placed at Tygerberg Hospital for his medical internship, where he is currently completing his second year. Thereafter, he intends to return to TB research following completion of his community service, and subsequently specialise – hopefully, in the field of Internal Medicine.
We were delighted to welcome Dr Jonathan Spanos back to Durban High School and to hear inspiring talk.
