An aspiring doctor who grew up watching her grandad receive medical treatment in hospital has been rewarded with a five-year surgical scholarship.

Zaynah Moazzam, from Blackburn, has been awarded the prestigious Livesey Scholarship after securing one of a small number of places on the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) in the North West.

The 19-year-old has drawn on her experience of the NHS treating her grandad as inspiration for pursuing a career as a doctor and she is looking forward to having a similar positive impact on the lives of people that need medical support from doctors.

She said: “Growing up watching my grandad being treated in and out of hospital and visiting him every day he was there, I was able to witness how much doctors cared for him and although nurses did amazing work and enhanced his activities of daily living, it was the doctors that ultimately made the decisions on how to strengthen his weak heart.

“This is one of the reasons why I chose to study medicine, so I can gain the ability to do just that; investigate and then make decisions of treatment to ease pain and manage long-term chronic diseases to save lives.”

Zaynah began her UCLan journey in September 2020 after she accepted a place on the Foundation Medical Sciences course at the Burnley campus and will now be studying on the Preston Campus for the next two years.

She added: “Receiving the place on the course was a dream come true but being awarded the scholarship was truly surreal.

“It hasn’t been an easy journey to get to this position, but I am so grateful for all the support and encouragement I had from my family, I wouldn’t be in this position without them.

“I would advise every student to never give up pursuing their goals.

“I know how difficult this journey is and there are many times when you lose hope, but hard work always pays off so don’t give up! If you are unsuccessful at first, don’t be disheartened use it as motivation!”

The Livesey Scholarship is offered to two MBBS students who successfully complete the pathways to medicine programme which has been developed for students from the North West of England who are from backgrounds that are under-represented at universities.

The scholarships cover all tuition fees for the duration of the five-year course.