Recently, I saw a post by Ken Coleman about a twelve-year-old who would typically get in trouble for doodling in class, now an illustrator with a signed Nike deal. Amazing right? The post caption made me curious, so I asked some friends — in line with his post — to think back to their vision for their life when they were ten years old, when the world was like a blank canvas when we knew what we were good at and loved. I shared highlights of a few things I wanted to be, whether momentarily or for the longer part of my childhood: hairdresser, cardiologist, journalist, author, bookshop, and coffee shop owner. One of the fields stuck — health. Now, I am a Public Health Professional, specifically in controlling infectious diseases.
My Persisting Dream
I remember being in Grade 6 and having some homework that involved researching the heart, HIV, and Kaposi’s sarcoma. I had been to hospitals before, and done my fair share of science, but it was here the heart and the circulatory system came alive to me. A fist-sized muscular pump receives electric signals and beats to pump oxygenated blood around our body within seconds? My young self was in awe. I am still equally surprised and perplexed by other amazing features our bodies have, such as a woman’s ability to push her child through what, on a typical day, is a relatively tiny hole. Anyway, I digress.
My persisting dream from then until my Advanced Level (A-Level) was to become a doctor, a cardiologist, to be precise. My ambition grew when my uncle died from a heart condition when I was eleven. This was my first experience of losing someone close to me. I was saddened and became more driven to become a doctor that would be able to help people like my uncle, helping them become healthy and live a fulfilling life with their loved ones. I was prepared to have a hospital at some point and name it after him, with the acronym, COLM Hospital. I was all in, passion, sentiment, and a heart to help people.
What changed in A-Level?
Ask me, oh. A-Level wanted to deal with me academically. I started my A-Level at Oxbridge Tutorial College, Lagos; I enjoyed my experience and made great friends. In secondary school, I was a student that received awards for multiple subjects in my year, most outstanding leader, had A’s in WAEC and IGCSE, and a reasonably high score in JAMB. But, in A-Level, I was smacked in the face by D’s in my subjects in term one and surrounded by classmates who didn’t seem to struggle, and were as joyful as they were brilliant. I wondered what went wrong over the summer.
I had gotten used to achieving academically and wanted to keep my streak up, because why not? My faith guided me to be excellent, to honour my parents, and my chosen future path — Medicine — required it, and so, my low grades stole my joy. I improved in my chosen subjects, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Maths (Maths, which I later dropped like it was hot in my second A-Level year, A2). What helped me to improve? I would love to speak and write about this and plan to in good time. Feel free to send a message about this if you want to discuss (see email below). It was a mix of practically living out my faith, asking for help, and learning not to stress. Anyway, I did well at the end of AS (first year)and A2! But in the interim, when I started A2 in Bellerbys College (due to my medical pathway), I questioned whether Medicine was what I wanted to pursue as I sat for the UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT), BioMedical Admissions Test (BMAT), and practiced for interviews.
My desires changed, coupled with fears that I could not be a doctor. I did apply for Medicine anyway, but sadly I did not get in! I applied to the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, University of Birmingham, University of Liverpool, and now one of my favourite places, the University of Surrey, because it became home for four years of BSc Biomedical Science.
Making it work — Biomedical Science
So, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Services (UCAS) system used to apply to universities in the UK allows five degree choices. 4/5 of mine were to medical school, while the last was to study Biomedical Science at the University of Surrey. Surrey got back to me within a week or two! I had one offer! While the rest took their time to send me “We are sorry but…” emails 🙂 I am grateful for my mum and friends who helped me and also thankful I had some heart assurance that I would be fine and all things would work out for my good (#ATWT).
Interestingly, two friends from school in Abuja were studying there. In 2015, Biomedical Science at Surrey became my path. I loved it, with a very special highlight being the friends I made here.
Rather than learning anatomy in detail, the focus was more on cell biology, molecular genetics, and biochemistry — typically covered in the first few years of Medicine anyway. I went with it knowing that I could still do postgraduate Medicine. I really enjoyed being in the laboratory and learning about microorganisms like Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, etc. I struggled a bit getting to grips with molecular genetics, eek! But I ended up liking it and doing well at it. Years 1 and 2 came and went, and in the second year, my three-year course became a four-year one as I opted for a professional training year (PTY).
My application for a PTY at Public Health England (PHE) was honestly one of prayer and last-minute decisions. The best right? I traveled from Guildford to Porton Down for an interview and received positive feedback on returning to University. So, rather than what would have been my final year at Uni, I worked at PHE as a Placement Research Scientist on a project titled, ‘Investigating the survival, persistence, and dispersal of Candida auris: the emerging nosocomial multi-drug resistant yeast.’ My PTY saw me move to Salisbury, and thankfully, I lived near and worked with lovely people and gained much-needed exposure to microbiology research of international standards. A sweet and surprising part of my PTY was being nominated for a PTY Student of the Year award when I returned to Uni.
Despite my initial dream of becoming a doctor, Biomedical Science looked promising. However, people made comments about why I was studying this course, from family to a particular stranger I met on the plane back home to Nigeria one holiday…
I’ll tell you more about this stranger and my post-PHE sojourn in the next post 🙂
