Dr Zoe Perreira – a high flyer in many regards

By Danielle Campbell

Dr Zoe Perreira was recently adjudged the best graduating student in the dentistry programme at the University of Guyana. She was born at Timehri, East Bank Demerara to Herman and Holly Perreira and attended several schools across the country.
Perreira has experienced the thrills of living in several communities since each time her parents were promoted, the family would relocate. “When my mom was promoted as deputy headteacher of Ann’s Grove Primary School, I was enrolled.”
She has always been a high achiever and was always involved in extracurricular activities.
After sitting what was then called the Common Entrance Examination, Perreira emerged the best graduating student and earned as herself a place at St Joseph’s High School.
At St Joseph’s High School, she completed the entire five years of schooling, and during that time, she was a member of the debating club and the Green Team environmental club.
“I was a frequent participant in impromptu speech, and each one I participated in, I won,” Perreira disclosed.
After completing high school, she took a year off from studying before registering at the University of Guyana in 2003 to read for a degree in biology.
She held a few part-time jobs in between classes; serving as laboratory assistant on campus in 2006.
Perreira also took part in the eco-census (a computerised programme that allowed persons to communicate). At that time, the university was conducting research in the wetlands and needed a means of communication with persons in the field.
“I also did cataloguing at the archives based at the museum. The records had to be carefully handled to prevent them from being torn or further destroyed,” Perreira recalled.
She even volunteered at the Guyana Zoo where she underwent six to eight weeks of training in order to learn the intricacies of conducting cage-side talks, doing tours, and explaining to visitors why it was best not to feed the animals.
She graduated with credits in November 2007, but had already enrolled in September 2007 for the dentistry programme. Her sights had not always been set on becoming a dentist as she had previously aspired to become a veterinary scientist. “Dentistry was my second resort,” Perreira revealed.
She found out about the dentistry programme from former Chief Dental Officer Joanes Jean after she went to the dental school to seek information about the dentex programme. “I thought the dentex programme was the same as dentistry, but I was told that I was overqualified and I was advised to enrol at the University of Guyana and return for the dental programme when I was finished.”
During her studies to become a dentist, Perreira had conducted a few dental outreaches, but nothing major in terms of volunteerism. “Dentistry is a difficult course, it’s not like a walk-over, but my colleagues were a few of my biggest supporters. If you have colleagues who don’t help and are not going to fill you in when you miss classes, it’s not going to work. Because of them, my studies were made much more pleasant,” Perreira remarked.
She detailed that studying was fun, since her study-mates were colleagues and considerate friends.
Asked how she felt to be deemed the “best graduating student”, Perreira said she had not given it much thought since she was not expecting to graduate as the top student.
She explained that her knowledge of her Grade Point Average (GPA) made her pretty aware of her excellent performance in class, but she did not think it was enough to earn her the top spot.
“I have two older sisters and two brothers and I’m the last sibling. My parents always believed in me, my siblings and relatives as well. I guess it’s a nice honour, but that wasn’t the bigger picture,” a modest Perreira stated.
She also credits her success to Dr Jean, Dr Ali, Dr Isaacs and others who were described as positive influences in her life. Disclosing her plans for the future, Perreira has decided to give back to her area of study for a few years before specialising in some other field of her choice. “I hope it eventually happens someday,” she said.