Institute of Continuing Education (ICE)
Submitted by K. Weddepohl on Wed, 11/01/2023 - 10:09
ICE’s new Director of Pre-Medical Studies is certain that “Each of us can make a difference in the world if we believe in ourselves.” So it’s not surprise that Dr Zalli’s pre-medicine course is giving mature students who missed out on university the chance to be that change.
As a young child in 1997, Albania was a terrifying place to grow up. Financial collapse led to lawlessness and civil war in the Balkan nation, and, like most other local kids their age, twin sisters Detina and Argita Zalli spent much of their time hiding at home as they worried about whether their engineer father would return safely each day.
Eventually, the family escaped, surviving criminal gangs and a treacherous cross-Europe journey that led them to the UK. But reaching Folkestone wasn’t the immediate fresh start two 12-year-old girls might have hoped for. They struggled for acceptance at the local school, where classmates dubbed them “the refugee twins.”
“My parents didn’t speak English, so I had to deal with all the solicitors, social services, doctors and so on,” recalls Detina. “In fact, my passion for medicine partly came from acting as a translator between refugees and doctors.”
As the years passed, the Zallis slowly settled into their new lives, but never with total security. For the medically minded sisters, their excellent A-level results presented a new hurdle: getting a university place without indefinite leave to remain in the UK.
“I was only 17, but I started calling universities asking them for help,” remembers Detina. “One of them, the University of Sussex, was willing to talk to the Home Office on our behalf and offered us places on their Molecular Medicine course.”
It was the closest thing to medical school they could get, and the course sparked a love of science that has persisted, propelling Detina – who, like her sister, had become Dr Zalli – onto a postdoc course at Harvard, where she learned not only about research but also about leadership and helping others.
“I directed and chaired several organisations, inviting Nobel Prize laureates to give lectures and developing my love of teaching and teamwork,” remembers Detina. “I was also inspired by Barack Obama’s words, ‘Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time.’ I’d been given an opportunity, and now I wanted to create opportunities for other people.”
Detina’s self-reflection led her to set up The Zalli Foundation, organising STEM and leadership events with invited speakers from leading academic institutions taking part in talks and mini-courses for learners from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds.
“I’m very happy to say that a lot of students have been inspired by the events,” says Detina. “Many are now studying abroad, and some are even collaborating with NASA scientists. We’re empowering students to dream and achieve their aims.”
That desire to offer people opportunities they didn’t think were open to them is part of the reason Detina took up her new role as Director of Pre-Medical Studies at ICE.
“Most of the students who enrol in our Pre-Medical Studies Certificate haven’t, for various reasons, had a chance to go to university before,” observes Detina. “I strongly believe that mature students, working together, can make a real difference to their own lives and to the medical field. It’s a true second chance for people who missed out at a young age.”
The course is aimed at mature students, with priority given to those who want to continue to medical school. It provides the necessary foundation in biology, chemistry and pre-medical studies, as well as developing skills like communication and critical thinking that shape well-rounded medical professionals.
While not guaranteeing a place on completion, medical schools at three local universities – Cambridge, Anglia Ruskin and East Anglia – have helped shape the course and agreed to welcome the Certificate as a valid entry route. Candidates for these schools will also need a minimum of six GCSEs at grade B or above, including Maths, English and Double Science.
“There’s a shortage of doctors in the NHS, and our students will already have life experiences that will benefit them and make a big difference to the medical profession and the British public,” believes Detina.
“I particularly want to encourage students from disadvantaged backgrounds to achieve their dreams. They might think Cambridge is out of reach, but I want to show them that if they work hard and are disciplined and motivated, they can get there too. Doors don’t always open straight away, but keep knocking until someone lets you in.”
As a Course Director at Cambridge, whose determined phone calls to universities as a 17-year-old refugee triggered her career in science, Dr Detina Zalli is the perfect role model for that sentiment.
Drs Detina and Argita Zalli are set to publish their life story, Good Morning, Hope, in March 2023. For more details, visit: https://www.sandrajonaspublishing.com/good-morning-hope/
To find out more about Pre-Medical Studies at ICE, visit: https://www.ice.cam.ac.uk/course/certificate-higher-education-pre-medical-studies
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