Dr Kai Moors, a Paul Roos Gymnasium (PRG) old boy, is the most recent recipient of the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship for 2027.

Moors, who matriculated in 2018, graduated as the top performer in his final year from Stellenbosch University (SU) in 2024 with an MB, ChB (cum laude). He is currently completing his internship as a junior doctor at New Somerset Hospital in Cape Town.

Leading from the front

His academic record is matched by a breadth of leadership. Moors received the SU Rector’s Award for Excellence in Leadership, having chaired and vice-chaired both the university’s Stoic Society and Surgical Society.

He served as faculty sports representative and worked as an international ambassador for three separate online medical education platforms.

He is also the recipient of multiple academic awards, including the Academic Merit Award, Senior Academic Merit Bursary and Top Performer Award.

Teaching has been central to his development. He served as a registered tutor-mentor during his undergraduate studies and qualified as an official ultrasound tutor — a life-saving skill he continues to share with students during his internship.

Hitting a nerve

Research has been equally important. Moors is a published first author in a peer-reviewed journal and has presented his work at the International Conference of Undergraduate Research.

His passion for neurology, particularly epilepsy, extends to exploring how doctors and traditional healers can collaborate to destigmatise the condition and improve diagnosis and management.

That passion now points to Oxford. Moors plans to pursue a DPhil in Neuroscience (1+3) and aims to specialise as a neurologist, lecture in academia and use the knowledge he gains to train tomorrow’s doctors.

He hopes his research will elevate neurological care in South Africa and other low- and middle-income countries.

Moors joins the ranks of PRG old boys Jannie Durand, Jean Meiring, Waldimar Pelser and Heerden Herman, who were previously awarded the scholarship. The last two recipients were Ruan Spies in 2022 and Willem Wilkens in 2019.

Beyond medicine and academia, Moors’s interests span philosophy, chess, meditation and playing the guitar, to rugby, racquet sports, running, cycling and cold-water swimming in the oceans of Cape Town.