From Hospitality to Hospital Wards with Alistair Thorburn

When Alistair failed his A-levels aged 18, he was happy to be finished with education. But at 42, after resitting his exams and receiving a scholarship, he graduated from UCL with a medicine degree.

Now an anaesthetist at Chesterfield Royal Hospital, Alistair's career path took a few different turns along the way. 

Since starting work in hospitality at 16, Alistair had aspired to be a hotel manager and had lost the motivation to truly apply himself at school. He would end up working in a range of retail roles before starting his own business selling and renting videogames.

“By my late twenties I realised this wasn’t what I wanted,” he said. “I wanted my next career move to be something that I could do for the rest of my life. When I was much younger, I had dreamed of being a doctor but assumed I’d missed my chance.”

Just a few years later, however, Alistair would find the inspiration to revisit that early ambition.

“When I was 34, my wife was working in a nursery in a deprived area of Luton. She would come home and tell me about her day and what she had achieved, and all I could say was ‘I shifted a few DVDs.’  

“I wanted the equivalent of what she had, so I spoke to her about studying to become a doctor. She told me that if I set my mind to it, I could do it. It really felt like I was sticking my neck out by changing career at that time, particularly while I had a mortgage and young kids, so I worked as hard as I could to make it happen.

Alistair began working 30 hours per week as a healthcare assistant in operating theatres, while also redoing his A-level exams and helping to look after his children.

“My first year at UCL was a was a shock to the system because everyone was so bright. I struggled just to stay afloat.

“At the start of my second year, one of my tutors encouraged me to apply for a scholarship, because she knew I had childcare responsibilities while studying full-time. Thankfully, I ticked the boxes for financial need and academic performance.”

Alistair was awarded the Dr and Mrs Bennett Walters Scholarship, which is funded by a gift left in the will of the late Robert A. Rogers who graduated from UCL in 1936.

“The scholarship really took the pressure off. It meant that I didn’t have to work part-time in the evenings, so I could be home and spend some time with my kids before they went to bed. My wife was still working full-time, and I worked flat out through the summers while studying.

“But this scholarship was for the duration of my course which meant my wife and I could include it in our budget each year. These kinds of gifts make things possible for untraditional students like myself. It gave me the feeling that I was where I was meant to be.

“Studying at UCL and the scholarship I received completely changed the trajectory of my life and career. I was shown the value of being around excellent people, because I was lifted up by ambitious, hard-working and intelligent peers who made me work harder. And UCL has enabled me to have a career where I continue to be surrounded by brilliant people.

“Since I became an anaesthetist, I haven’t had a single day where I didn’t want to go to work. You can make an incredible difference to people’s lives and I enjoy mentoring the medical students that come to work with us. It’s a very rewarding job.”

Links

• Find out more about the impact of legacy giving at UCL
• Read UCL's Impact of Philanthropy Report, 2023/24

Image

Alistair at work at Chesterfield Royal Hospital