Ray's foundation degree 'slam-dunks' him onto an amazing career path

: Created: 11 May 2021

Peckham-born Ray Akpofure, 29, has travelled far to get to where he is after dropping out of another top London University eight years ago. During that time, he has spent a period working as a bar tender and undertaking a year’s voluntary work experience at Hammersmith Hospital. Throughout, he has stayed determined, focussed and has never given up on his dream to become a consultant medical research scientist, hoping one day to lead a team to a major clinical breakthrough in cancer treatments.

During the pandemic, Ray, currently working as a Research Assistant at the National Amyloidosis Centre, Royal Free Hospital in Hertfordshire, joined a team bio-referencing the Covid-19 virus found in medics working within the hospital’s Covid Hub and tracking its behaviour in all those testing positive. The findings of the research was then released to Pfizer, one of the world’s leading biopharmaceutical companies and developer of a Covid vaccine now being used throughout the world.

“I still consider this to be the start of my career in biomedical science”, says Ray, “and feel blessed to be working in an area where each day one medical discovery leads to another. No matter how small, the tasks you perform in this field, they are always significant. It gives me a great deal of job satisfaction and every day is different.

“I’m proud of the work I have been involved with so far and so glad I persevered with my dream. During the time I spent studying my Foundation Degree, I was working lots of hours, juggling the work with studying and training for my basketball team Oakland Wolves. Some days I would only manage four or five-hours sleep. It was very hard going but I was determined.

Ray has two pieces of good advice for anybody wanting to follow in similar footsteps. The first concerns going out and finding yourself a quality work experience place for a real employer, being prepared to work voluntarily and long hours too.

He says: “As a personal mantra, I believe that you always get what you have the leverage to negotiate. Studying and achieving a qualification alone isn’t going to get you to where you want to be. You have to add value to that qualification with experience of working on live projects within the sector. I’ve now accumulated eight years of experience and this is helping me to move along in my career quicker and faster.

“Further to this, you have to expect the odd setback along the way and learn from your mistakes. There is an old saying ‘a kick in the behind is still a forward move’. My tutors at the College were brilliant from start to finish and would give me encouragement, support and occasionally the prod I needed to get back on-track should I encounter a momentary lull.

“The quality of teaching at the University Centre was also a massive factor and was much better than what I’d experienced in my first attempt at studying at such a high level. I’m so glad I found this College and the confidence and strength it gave me to thrive and succeed.”

If you think you have what it takes to be successful in the world of biomedical and pharmaceutical science, or have been thinking of studying at degree level, we’d like to hear from you. We have a great range of degree and professional level courses for you to choose from. Join us for one of our forthcoming Virtual Open Events.

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