Scotch College

Excellence in study and life: the Sant-Rayn Pasricha story

Last year, as top student in the final year of his medical degree at the University of Melbourne, Sant-Rayn Pasricha ('95) won a mantelpiece full of glittering prizes and awards. It was just one more step along a remarkable path of achievement in study and in life for this exceptional Old Scotch Collegian.

In final-year medicine, Sant-Rayn (known as 'Santa') earned a Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery degree with first-class honours, and as top student in his year he won the Australian Medical Association Prize, the Novartis Prize and the Rowden-White Prize.

In addition, Santa gained first-class honours in medicine and surgery, and won:

• the Keith Levi Memorial Scholarship in Medicine;
• the Pharmacia Award in Clinical Pharmacology;
• the Alfred Edward Rowden White Prize in Clinical Obstetrics;
• the Howard E Williams Prize in Paediatrics;
• the John Cade Memorial Medal in Clinical Psychiatry; and
• the Royal Australasian College of Ophthalmologists Prize.

To cap off a great final year, Santa was chosen by his peers to deliver the speech at the valedictory dinner for final-year Melbourne medical students.

Santa was born in Melbourne, but his parents are from Malaysia, the family having come originally from the north of India, near the Pakistan border. Santa seemed more likely to embark on a legal career while at Scotch - both his parents are lawyers. But as he moved through Scotch, he found that medicine was beckoning him.

'To get into medicine I knew I would have to work hard, and that's where Scotch was great,' Santa told Great Scot. 'I developed the confidence to strive to be an achiever, and I was taught that hard work pays off.'

Santa participated fully in Scotch life.

He acted in the Year 10 play, was later a school officer and a CUO in the Cadet Corps, and was an enthusiastic member of the second and third hockey teams. 'I was mainly in the thirds as goalkeeper,' he said. 'I wish I could have devoted more time to hockey and other Scotch activities, but I was fully focused on doing the best I could to get into medicine.' That devotion to study led to a VCE score of 99.8, and entry to the Melbourne Medical Course.

Uni life was also to Santa's liking. In a recent article about Santa, 'Chiron', the University of Melbourne Medical Society journal said: 'Santa has been an exceptional student, renowned not only for his academic success, achieved with apparent ease, but for his social skills, enthusiasm and eclectic interests.'

For three years Santa was acoustic guitarist and singer with the rock band, 'The Biggest Joke', together with two other Old Scotch boys, Peter Malkin and Scot Holbrow. He helped develop SWOT, a student initiative to provide disadvantaged high school children with pre-VCE tutoring, and (with Dr Catie Fleming) devised an interactive teaching session on adolescent sexual issues for the Melbourne University Faculty of Education. To broaden his horizons, he spent his three-month elective term in India.

What's next for this exceptional Old Scotch Collegian? Does he feel the weight of expectation after so much success as a student? 'There certainly is an element of expectation,' he said. 'However, I'm trying to put that behind me - I know that succeeding in medicine isn't automatic, just because I might have won a few awards as a student'.

'In the near term I'd like to do paediatrics, or become an adult physician. Further ahead, I'm interested in overseas aid work sometime; perhaps in 2004. I think I'm a little too inexperienced for that yet.'

Whatever directions his medical future takes, the Scotch community will watch Santa's progress with great interest.

David Ashton