General surgeon Dr Maria Meilak and satellite communications leader Dr Hector Fenech are the first two recipients of the University of Malta’s Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award.

Dr Meilak has offered her work voluntarily and unceasingly in the Maltese community and abroad ever since she qualified as a medical doctor from the University in 1973. Over the years, she has offered her medical services in both central America and Africa. She continued her work even during periods of strife and civil war when wounded patients and women requiring emergency obstetrics turned to her for assistance. She is co-founder of a local voluntary organisation and the current president of another.

Dr Meilak said: “At University, one learns about one’s chosen profession, but mostly one is prepared for a life of service to others. This is what keeps one happy.”

On his part, Dr Fenech has shown outstanding qualities in the development of his career in the field of satellite communications. After graduating from the University in 1975, he furthered his studies abroad, gaining his Ph.D from the University of Bradford in 1987.

Since then, he has moved on to direct the future satellite programme of one of the largest communications satellite companies in the world. Dr Fenech is now an authority in his field and contributes regularly to academic and practical developments therein.

Despite having achieved both academic and professional success over many years beyond our shores, Dr Fenech always kept in contact with his Maltese colleagues. In 2004 he was instrumental in the setting up of a satellite company in Malta which now employs a growing number of Maltese engineers, graduates of the University, who are thus given exposure to the international telecommunications market.

Dr Fenech commented: “I am a firm believer that the limitations that we have, are the limitations that we either accept or we impose on ourselves. There are people who say ‘The sky is the limit’. I’ll go further. I’ll say space is the limit.”