A SALUTE TO DOCTOR HELENĖ

Helené J Coetzee (class of 2011) recently received her PhD in Aquatic Health from the University of Johannesburg. She is married to Phillip-Jan van Zyl, also a Plasie old boy.

She enrolled for a BSc degree in Zoology and Microbiology at North-West University in 2012 and completed her degree in 2014. She completed her BSc Hons in Aquatic Environmental Health in 2015.  She enrolled at the University of Johannesburg for a MSc Zoology in 2016 for which she received the prestigious UJ Chancellor’s Medal for the most meritorious study in 2018.

Later that year Helené started her PhD studies which focused on the histology and histopathology of the critically endangered scalloped hammerhead shark, the African eagle ray and the spinner shark from the coast of Kwa Zulu Natal.

A salute to Helené who completed her PhD in 2022 part-time, while working for a consultancy firm in Sandton, Johannesburg.