“What are you doing with your brain?” asked Borain’s sons, who encouraged their father to finish his master's in Pharmacy that he had started when living in Pretoria in the 1980s.
Borain said he had always encouraged his children to value education. He has four sons, two of whom are pharmacists, while the other two are chartered accountants, following in their mother’s accounting footsteps.
After the university lost the thesis, he had been working on, Borain threw himself into strengthening his pharmaceutical career, which he enjoyed immensely.
Borain, whose pharmacy career spans more than four decades, started seven pharmacies before eventually selling to a large retail group.
He still works as a locum at a pharmacy in Despatch on Sundays, and he also plays tennis three times a week — something he credits for keeping him fit, healthy, and looking 20 years younger than his actual 81 years.
“Medicine is ever evolving, so if you don’t keep your hand on things, you will quickly be out of the loop,” he said.
His revised topic and MPharm dissertation supervised by Professor Ilse Truter, focused on, the role of community pharmacies in providing immunisation and vaccinations in South Africa.
“My supervisor, Prof Truter, has been amazing, going out of her way to assist me on this journey,” said Borain, who was excitedly looking forward to his graduation.
Borain now intends to begin his PhD, his dissertation focusing on the quality validation in snake vaccine manufacturing. In the 80’s he worked as a production manager at the South African Institute for Medical Research, where he was involved in the manufacturing of snake vaccines.