Lenda Scholarship recipient chose medicine during his military service

The Faculty of Medicine at Masaryk University, in cooperation with the Martin Lenda Foundation, awarded the Lenda Scholarship for the third time. The amount of twenty thousand Norwegian kroner is granted to the Norwegian student who performs best in the entrance examinations for the General Medicine study program. This year, the recipient is twenty-one-year-old Markus Strand Pilskog from Ålesund, a town of fifty thousand inhabitants located on the west coast of Norway.

“It is always a pleasure to see students well prepared for the entrance process, as they usually excel during their studies as well,” said Lubomír Křivan, Vice-Dean for English Studies and Internationalization at the Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, as he congratulated the newly admitted first-year student at the scholarship ceremony. The financial support, awarded in memory of the prematurely deceased medical student Martin Lenda, aims not only to motivate students in their work but also to raise awareness of the mental health of their future patients, regardless of the field they eventually choose.

The newly awarded student, however, is still far from certain about his future career. “I’m keeping it open for now,” he says, adding that he decided to study medicine relatively late – only during his compulsory military service in Norway, where he served in a paramedic unit among doctors who inspired him to pursue the profession. Even so, he enjoys his time in the new city as much as possible. “I haven’t experienced much of Brno or the university yet because I’m deeply immersed in studying, but we have a great study group, and I believe I’ll make up for it.”