Sanjeeva S Godakandage

My course

When I started looking for a course, I was doing my postdoctoral training in London. My specialism is infant and young child nutrition, and I explored the opportunities available in the UK to further my knowledge on that subject in particular, and medical nutrition in general. After searching all the academic courses available, the MSc Nutritional Medicine course course at Surrey looked closest to fulfilling my objective.

My career and development

Becoming a doctor was my childhood dream. During my schooldays, I was attracted to several other subjects as well, but those were not strong enough to distract me. After getting into the medical school, I was really glad that I made that choice. I felt empowered to help people who are really in need.

I see my present position as a challenge as well as an achievement. There were so many things on the way, which gave me a huge satisfaction. It always gives me a great pleasure to think about the workshop organised for heads of major hospitals and other medical administrators of Sri Lanka on the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI), which was an initial step aimed at revitalising the BFHI process in the country. I was only a non-specialist medical officer at that time, and I had to do it almost single-handedly. However, it was well attended, not only by medical administrators, but also by a technical expert from UNICEF headquarters in New York, and was considered a huge success. However I could not take that process further, as I had to leave for my post-doctoral training in the UK.

"Whenever I needed help, either within the campus or through emails, I always received it."

My most memorable moment

There are so many nice things about Surrey, that I will never forget - the location, the quality of education etc. However, the strongest memory would be the friendliness and unpretentiousness of the staff. Whenever I needed help, either within the campus or through emails, I always received it, be it from the course director and other academic staff or from the administrative staff. To date, I am encouraged to keep in contact with the University - I do not think there are very many universities that can rival Surrey on that.

My advice

Going into the medical profession involves hard work. Also you won't get immediate satisfaction, as in clinical medicine, so you need to have a genuine liking for public health medicine. The top priority should always be the well-being of the public that we serve; perseverance is a must - one fine day it will pay off; last but not least, balancing the professional and personal life is of utmost importance.

I will be surprised if the University of Surrey is unable to fulfil your aim!

Discover more about our postgraduate food, nutrition and dietetics courses, including our MSc Nutritional Medicine course.