Generously donated by Dr Pritpal Singh (in College 1988-1994), the Singh and Kaur Scholarship will support a medical student from a rural background to reside at St John’s whilst studying Medicine at the University of Sydney. The Scholarship has been lovingly named in honour of Dr Singh’s parents, who instilled a passion for learning in their three children.

Pritpal grew up on his parents’ citrus farm in rural NSW, and resided at St John’s College from 1988 to 1994, where he has fond memories of College life. A fervent soccer fan alongside fellow St John’s student Richard Kelly, Pritpal served as Soccer Secretary from 1990 to 1994, and was a key player in making Soccer a Rawson Cup sport.

Being of Sikh cultural heritage made his early time at St John’s interesting, as he was one of the very few vegetarians in the student body. Instead of being served meat-and-three-veg for dinner, he was often served three-veg-and-three-veg! 

The food diversified; he survived!

Pritpal speaks fondly of the Rector during his time at College, Fr Les Cashen, who made him feel very welcome and supported. 

After graduating with honours (including two medical scholarships and a medical prize), Pritpal trained in Ophthalmology at Sydney Eye Hospital. He has since established a distinguished career as a specialist eye surgeon, and was instrumental in the development of Lakeview Hospital in Northwest Sydney. Established in June 2015, Lakeview Hospital has performed more than 160,000 procedures, driving positive change and expanding the quality of medical care within the community. Dr Singh currently serves on the Board of Directors at the Hospital. 

Through his time at St John’s, Dr Singh was fortunate to build close and enduring friendships. Dr Singh believes that the cross-disciplinary nature of the St John’s student community offers our resident scholars a golden opportunity to grow friendships and connections with others from diverse educational and backgrounds.

I am delighted to launch the Singh and Kaur Scholarship, and look forward to welcoming many more medical students to St John’s. It is thanks to the generous donations provided by many of our supporters, that we can continue to enable the best and brightest students to reside at St John’s College well into the future. I am deeply grateful to Dr Singh and his family for their very generous support of St John’s College: their passion, commitment and vision will resonate throughout the College for years to come.

Dr Mark Schembri
Rector