Episode 20: Dr Albert Koomson - Building Emotional Maturity Before Becoming A Medical Student, My Greatest Role Model and The Importance Of Faith During Adversity

During the second part of my conversation with Dr Albert Koomson, we start by taking a step back into his very early life,  growing up in Ghana. When Albert's father accepted a post as a Consultant Anaesthetist in the UK, the family actually relocated to North London nearby to the Tottenham Hotspur football stadium. Albert muses on how living in a challenging neighbourhood gifted him important skills in life but also on how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, accepting the adversity, diversity and social skew that surrounded him in the local areas.   Albert is generous with his inner thoughts, and provides me with insight into why his father is a role model he is in his life, and always will be.  On arriving in the the UK, he made a tremendous success of his career and demonstrated important qualities and attributes to a young and impressionable Albert such as selflessness, kindness, and a insatiable thirst and passion for life which have automatically seared themselves permanently onto Alberts personality also. In Alberts words, he had a  ‘sublime courage’, and ‘broke down the doors and glass ceilings’ that were present for many overseas doctors working in the British NHS, especially at a time when they may have experienced episodes of prejudice and unnecessary obstacles. This is an important discussion for us both and draws the parallels with those important to me in my own life. But did you know that Albert actually completed a degree in microbiology at Leicester before moving onto medicine and in hindsight, was not necessarily such a bad idea? He gives important insights into why being mature and emotionally intelligent is an essential prerequisite for building a successful platform during the early years of medical school and a springboard to accepting the seriousness of studying medicine. During the second half of the conversation we swap thoughts about some of the fears of qualification and being a doctor by default as termed by the media so to speak. In particular, he refers to  some of the ‘front line’ military talk rhetoric expressed within the National media which understandably frightened and concerned his cohort.  Albert talks emotionally about dealing with the overwhelming tsunami of COVID-19 on the wards.  The  aggressively steep learning curve and rules of engagement for discussion with worried families as well as reflections on the sudden worsening changes in condition  in a seemingly-well COVID-19 patient. We see insights as to how his faith and belief in God, the importance of good family support , is so important to him and has been transformational in dealing with the pain and fear in the first few months of being a doctor. What is clearly evident from our conversation, is Albert’s wholehearted gratitude to those in his life that have allowed him to be in the position he is and also supported him with his role being on the front line in these last few months. Finally, we finish off by talking about dreams and aspirations for a career in elite organised team sports…..and just why a dream job of being the Manchester United Head medic may not be all it is cracked up to be….Please enjoy the remainder of this joyful conversation with the charming and funny, Dr Albert Koomson.