March 5, 2021

Why medicine is a passion for first-in-family graduate

Sam Jennings overcame learning difficulties to graduate with top marks

Sam Jennings’s father always told him that they weren’t a lucky family.

“We Jennings make our own luck,” he said.

Hard work and persistence, instead, were the keys to success. It is a lesson that has propelled Sam throughout the course of his life, and has had a tremendous impact on the way he sees the world.

Indeed, for Sam, hard work is the reason why he is celebrating his graduation from the University of Wollongong with a Bachelor of Pre-Medicine, Science and Health.

He has spent the past three years devoted to his studies, achieving a weighted average mark in the 90s, with the aim of eventually becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon.

The feat is even more impressive, considering Sam is the first in his family to attend university, let alone graduate with distinction.

“You learn a lot through your parents, and for me, it was not so much what they told me, but what I observed,” said Sam, who emigrated to Australia at the age of 13 with his family.

“My Dad never went to university, he trained as an electrician, but now he is in charge of multi-million-dollar buildings in Sydney. I saw his progression, I saw that he never gave up.

“My parents never put pressure on me. They always trusted me to do what worked for me. They would tell me that I was in charge of my own life and their job was to support me. I really enjoy study because it was something I wanted to do, rather than a chore.”

Sam discovered his passion for medicine in his early years of high school, when he began to learn about the heart during science. For his first 10-odd years of schooling, he had not been particularly interested in academics, but a teacher in Year 6 helped him to realise his natural ability.

“Medicine was a real opportunity for me, rather than being a soccer player, which is what most boys that age want to be,” he said with a laugh. “I had an amazing teacher in Year 6, who made me into the studious person I am today. 

“When we began to learn about the heart [in Year 7] I was so fascinated, I researched it outside the home. I tried to create an artificial heart. I loved how hands-on medicine was, and since then, I knew I wanted to do something with the heart.” 

Sam was drawn to the Bachelor of Pre-Medicine, Science and Health because it offered a strong foundation for a career in medicine. In particular, Sam said the hands-on nature of the degree, and how it brought together all the different areas of science in which he was interested, made it fascinating and enjoyable.

“I loved it, there were a lot of chemistry subjects, which was a subject I didn’t particularly enjoy in high school, but when we began to see how chemistry would relate to pharmacology, and we began to learn about pathology. It was amazing how it all came together,” Sam said. “What initially seem like isolated subjects connect in very interesting ways.”

Two years into his degree, Sam was diagnosed with ADHD. Until that point, he had not realised there was a root cause for his hyperactivity and difficulty in concentration. Yet, the diagnoses transformed Sam’s life, and his studies. And far from deter Sam from his path to becoming a doctor, it solidified why medicine was the right choice for him.

“I thought everything I was dealing with was normal. I assumed it just took me longer than other people to understand concepts. I was always tapping my feet, fiddling with things. 

“Around the same time, I was also diagnosed with Irlen Syndrome, a neurological learning disorder. My reading speed was poor, my comprehension was poor. I would read something 50 times to be able to understand it, and I mean that literally.

“Listening is the thing that helps me to learn, so in that first year, before I was diagnosed, I was able to listen in lectures and understand what the lecturer was talking about, but I struggled with reading.

“Now, my reading speed and comprehension has improved immensely. Because of my ADHD, I always want to be on my feet, I love a changing environment, and I love communicating with people. Medicine is a career that encompasses all those things, it allows me to deal with new people, different cases, in a high-pressure, hands-on situation.” 

^{UOW graduate Sam Jennings.} 

Sam has truly found his calling in the field of medicine. He loves to study, and is particularly focused on building a career in regional and Indigeneous health. This perspective has largely been shaped by his experiences as a student working in regional areas.

“As part of SHARP [Student Health Alliance for Rural Populations], I took part in a four-day workshop in Alice Springs during my degree. We went out and spoke to high school students about health and worked with local health organisations. Coming from England, and then moving to Sydney, I was never exposed to the rural lifestyle. I thought I knew what the situation was like, but I really had no idea,” Sam said.

“There are not a lot of facilities, not a lot of access to proper health care. That first-hand experience was a real slap in the face, and one of the pivotal moments in my learning experience.”

In early 2020, Sam also spent a few weeks at Croker Island, off the coast of the Northern Territory, as a pathology collector (another qualification he undertook in his first year of study). Sam was tagging along with a family friend, a fly-in, fly-out nurse, and said it was one of the best experiences of his life.

“We worked at a small clinic on the island, taking pathology samples. It was the most amazing cultural immersion. Ninety-nine per cent of the islanders are Indigenous, and being exposed to that environment, and having the opportunity to find out more about Indigenous culture and Indigenous health was invaluable.

“What I learnt on Croker Island will last a lifetime. It really changed my perspective and motivated me to work in rural health. I am desperate to get back there, but COVID has derailed that for the moment.” 

For now, Sam is spending a bit of time in the world of research, with the aim of eventually pursuing a Doctor of Medicine.

He is undertaking his Honours with a research project, supervised by Dr Gregory Peoples, Dr Michael Macartney and Mark Brown, focusing on heart rate and assessing variability between beats of the heart.

It is a full circle moment for Sam, who fell in love with medicine while examining the heart during science class.

Sam said he is taking it a step at a time, but he knows that he has found his calling in the field of medicine.

“Medicine is not a career for me. It is a passion, a lifestyle. I’m really enjoying the research aspect of my Honours work at the moment, answering a question that has not been asked before. 

“Eventually I would love to get into lecturing or further research. I have a lot to give back to UOW, because the University has given me so much. I am so grateful for my time at UOW.”