Alumni news

Doctor is an inspiration to others

A Syrian refugee has finally graduated as a doctor – ten years after she first began studying in her home country.

Loubna El Saboni (Medicine 2023) abandoned her studies as she and her family fled Syria for their safety. She was later accepted to continue her studies at Leeds, while raising her daughter, who is now three.

She says: “Five years ago, the University of Leeds gave me the opportunity to be heard, and offered a glimmer of hope that I might be able to achieve my dream of being a doctor.

“I’m relieved to finally graduate and start my career as a doctor. I’ve lived so much of my life as a medical student, I’m excited to know what it’s like on the other side.

“There were times I thought I wouldn’t get to this point. I’ve been through some real challenges – tackling a medical degree is not an easy task, let alone with a daughter and after leaving everything behind in Syria and starting again here in the UK.

“I hope my experience paves the way for other people to know that no matter what their background, they can have a second chance at achieving what they want to. And I hope I’ve given my daughter a strong female example and taught her never to give up on her dreams."

After a total of ten years at medical school, Loubna has taken up a position as a Foundation Year One doctor in the East Cheshire Trust.

Louise Gazeley, Academic Sub-Dean and Clinical Lecturer at the School of Medicine, said: “Loubna is a fantastic example of a student showing determination and perseverance to achieve her dream, overcoming so many obstacles that came her way during the already challenging experience of medical school.

“Her story is truly inspirational and we’re so proud that she’s a part of our University of Leeds community.”

Onto the frontline

After a varied career in teaching and IT, Peter Watters (Pharmacology 1980) has retrained to become a frontline paramedic at the age of 64.

His passion for healthcare and medicine began whilst studying pharmacology at Leeds. “There were fantastic facilities and the lecturers were experts in their fields,” Peter recalled. “We were in the old medical school at first, and then we moved into the new one – the Worsley building, which is probably considered old now.”

After graduating, he was unsure whether to commit to a career in pharmacology, so he opted for a PGCE. He became a teacher, before switching to a role in IT. “My career has come down to opportunity,” he said. “You put the pieces in place and the opportunities often present themselves. I enjoyed teaching, but when the chance came to do something new again, I took it.”

It is an approach that has taken him around the world. A teaching role in North Carolina, USA, followed, before he worked as the director of IT at a school in Surrey. He later moved to the Lake District and began a holiday cottage business. “But with that one, I was at home all day cleaning,” he said. “I started to go stir crazy, I was used to socialising.

“I joined St John’s Ambulance because my daughters were a part of it, and I was dropping them off and picking them up anyway. It brought back all the memories of pharmacology at Leeds. I became emergency transport on events, which is when I saw an advert for emergency medical technicians.” After seven years in that role, an apprenticeship opportunity led to him study as a paramedic at Carlisle University.

Once qualified, Peter took on greater responsibilities for patient management – far beyond what people typically expect. “It’s a broad remit – people often see the paramedic role as putting a patient in an ambulance and moving on, but it's changing. You’ve got to set patients on the right care pathway and make patient management decisions, and it’s a qualification that can see you working with the air ambulance, in care homes, in GP surgeries or in A&E.

“We’re expected to keep up to speed with literature around techniques, drugs, and patient management and revise protocols accordingly. We become researchers in our own right. That builds upon a lot of what I did at Leeds into treatments and the way they work.”

Where his Leeds studies might help prepare him for knowledge-based aspects of the role, the emotional side draws on a different skillset – particularly in a trauma scenario. “It’s a challenge, but you’ve got to detach yourself from what you’re seeing and the emotions of people on the scene. You step back and follow your protocols to help those patients. It might hit you afterwards, but at the time you can't get distracted. We do have a good structure in place to deal with psychological issues afterwards.”

And it is in those times of stress that Peter’s life experiences can play a part. “I suppose people look at you differently as an older person,” Peter said. “They see you as being more knowledgeable, a bit more of a calming influence, perhaps.

“If anyone is considering a career change, if you’re healthy enough and still have the thirst for knowledge, there’s nothing that should stop you,” he says. “I come home at the end of every day knowing I’ve made someone’s life better – and longer, in some instances.”

Opening access to learning

A newspaper article about agencies charging exorbitant fees to tutor the children of wealthy families proved the spark for a new career for Abigail Shapiro (Politics and Parliamentary Studies 1998).

“I was talking to my friend Nick Bent about how tutoring had become an unregulated billion pound industry which actually exacerbated disadvantages for young people. It was like the Wild West. We just thought ‘there has to be a better way’.”

Though volunteers were already going into schools to work unpaid with children from disadvantaged backgrounds, Abigail was determined to give this valuable work a professional standing.

The opportunity came at a good time: “I was on maternity leave and had some time on my hands”. Within a year she and Nick had established the Tutor Trust, to deliver intensive maths and English tuition in state schools in areas of disadvantage. A grant from the Education Endowment Fund allowed the Trust to begin work in 2011 in Manchester, where tutors supported year 11 pupils in ten schools.

“It very quickly escalated as more schools joined and we extended it to children in years seven, eight and nine.” Each receives 12 hours of tutoring in school, in groups of up to three. “Teachers would love to be able to do this, but they might have a class of 30 and don’t have time to focus on such small groups,” says Abigail.

Many of the tutors are current university students who fit the work around their studies: “It allows them to give back to the community where they are studying. It’s also great experience and looks good on their CV.”

Much of the work is funded through donor support, while schools pay for the service using the Pupil Premium, targeted Government funding to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged children.

The Trust expanded to Leeds in 2015, while the following year control trials showed the benefits of its work in raising maths attainment in year six, with children making an average of three months’ progress from their tutoring. “That was the platform for us to scale and grow,” says Abigail.

The Trust now reaches over 6,500 young people every year in schools across the north. Among its trustees is Louise Banahene, Director of Educational Engagement at the University of Leeds. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Trust led a Government pilot in online tutoring; Abigail is now a regular visitor to Downing Street for discussions on how tutors can raise attainment in school.

“I’ve worked in public affairs and have always been interested in policy and education,” she says. “My degree at Leeds included a year working in a placement in a political setting. I had spells in Washington DC and in the Houses of Parliament. It was the most rewarding and fulfilling experience of my life.”

If you’re interested in becoming a part-time tutor to help Abigail and her team to transform more lives through tutoring, you can find out more and apply on the Trust website.

Conducting business in China 

A textbook written by Dr Paul Taylor (Physics and Electronic Engineering 1973, PhD 1977) shortly after he graduated afforded him celebrity status when he visited China many years later. 

Despite a career which saw him lead an international business, Paul admits to still suffering the shyness he had to overcome while a student at Leeds. “When I was 18, I was very shy and preferred to be at the back of the classroom. I remember one day just going to the Parkinson Steps and forcing myself to talk to some people. And when you do that, they respond. I now spend a lot of my time networking, and I know that someone sitting quietly in the corner could actually be the most interesting person in the room.” 

Paul’s expertise in semiconductors was nurtured at Leeds: “I loved maths, and Leeds offered a course combining physics and electronics which was perfect for me. Semiconductors had been around for a while but were a growing business at the time – and became the focus of my postgraduate research.” 

After leaving Leeds, Paul worked for a manufacturing business in Lincoln, where GEC had moved their product development team from the Hirst Research Centre in London, holding various engineering and management positions in operations, technology and business development. “We made a range of different semiconductors for communications and radio frequencies, but my area was power semiconductor electronics. It's an older technology, but has become much more relevant recently, as it’s used to drive motors such as electric cars and trains and is a major component in converting electric power into movement. They're also used in wind turbines to do the opposite – to convert the energy from the turbines into the electricity that supplies our national grid.” 

In 2000 he became Chief Technology Officer for Dynex Semiconductor Ltd, based in Lincoln, and later CEO – and while searching for new investors, his celebrity status finally emerged: “Years ago, on the encouragement of my supervisor at Leeds, I wrote a book about Thyristors, which are a type of semiconductor device. Unbeknownst to me, it had been translated into Chinese and became their standard textbook on the subject. When I visited China much later, I was feted as something of a celebrity; people who worked in electronics all seem to know my name.” 

Paul’s renown proved critical to the future of Dynex, which has now been revitalised by Chinese power electronics giant CRRC Times Electric, part of the world’s largest railway manufacturing concern. Paul stepped down as CEO in 2017, but is retained by the company in an advisory role. He is also active in the UK Power Electronics Community and is Chairman of independent community group Power Electronics UK, a Chartered Engineer and an Honorary Professor at the University of Nottingham.