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| GREATNESS often begins in the ordinary. It isn't born from grand gestures or extraordinary circumstances, but from steady work, persistence and the determination to rise above everyday struggles.
For Dr Hanis Hidayu Kassim, that steady work took her all the way to Cambridge. After years of research, she earned not just a PhD, but one of the rarest results of all — her thesis was accepted in full, with no corrections.
In academic circles, this almost never happens. Most students leave their viva with changes to make — sometimes small, sometimes so big they take months. But Dr Hanis' work stood strong on its own.
The 39-year-old smiles as she remembers the moment.
"I had my viva on July 23, just two months ago. But the official results only came out two days ago," she shares, still sounding amazed.
Her PhD used lipidomics — a cutting-edge way of studying fat molecules — to explore how premature births affect a baby's metabolism and blood sugar regulation in the first year of life.
Explains Dr Hanis: "This research provides the first detailed map of how prematurity shapes fat metabolism and glucose regulation throughout infancy. It opens the door to tailored nutrition and targeted health markers for pre-term babies, helping improve their long-term health."
For a kampung girl from Klebang Besar in Melaka, the road to Cambridge was long and full of challenges. But today, she stands among the world's finest scholars.
VILLAGE GIRL
Form 3 days: Hanis, second row, fourth from the left, was thriving before she went on to boarding school.
Dr Hanis grew up the youngest of six. Her father was a meter reader with the Melaka Water Department and her mother a homemaker, but they made sure their children never felt deprived.
"Finances may have been tight," she says, "but my parents never let us feel we were missing out".
She remembers cycling daily to school across a wooden bridge from her kampung.
Chuckling, she confides: "I had no big ambition back then. I just wanted to be a radio DJ like the ones on RTM!"
Her parents, though, were strict about education. Dr Hanis was often among the top in her class, but was always pushed to aim higher.
Life wasn't only about books. Her mother enrolled her in RTM singing competitions, dressing her in colourful costumes.
"I had no singing talent," Dr Hanis grins, adding: "But I'd win best costume! It gave me a boost of confidence that stayed with me."
The idea of medicine came later, when she enrolled in the Pontian Mara Junior Science College (MRSM).
Asked to create her first email, she typed in Doc_MsHanis. "Maybe I can be a doctor," she thought. It was a small, almost unambitious moment — but it planted a seed that grew into her dream.
DOCTOR'S CALLING |
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