LIFE IS ABOUT TIMING

LIFE is about

• TIMIN • • • • • •

The path to advanced education looks different for everyone which is why it is so important to share the inspiring journeys of students in each of our three schools: School of Medicine, School of Allied Health Professions, and School of Graduate Studies. Each of these students began their advanced degrees at an age older than their peers, bringing with them a diverse and unplanned set of life experiences that have uniquely prepared them to achieve their professional goals.

For Kali Kingsley, 32, becoming a doctor

was a career goal from an early age. She vividly recalls as a little girl wanting to help people when she grew up. When the time came for her to pick a university, Kali chose to enroll at United States Air Force Academy based on it being a highly competitive university and offering an esteemed education. Kali’s plan was to get her degree and immediately enter medical school.

“When I got to the Air Force Academy, I just quit on myself. I talked myself out of pursuing medicine thinking I didn’t have to be a doctor to help people.” Kali remembers thinking at the time that she could fulfill her drive to serve through her time in the Air Force. So her plan fell to the back-burner. After graduation in 2011, Kali was commissioned as an Intelligence Officer in the Air Force. She went on to receive her master’s degree in criminal intelligence two years later. “It was not me. I was not fulfilled in that career. I did well; I hit the marks you are supposed to but I knew that it was not what I was supposed to be doing.” Around this time, Kali and her husband, Shai, who is also in the Air Force, were presented an opportunity to be stationed in Europe. They embraced this once in a lifetime opportunity with Kali loving her time there as she worked to complete a portion of the science prerequisites needed to apply to medical school. When they returned to the States in 2019, Kali was pregnant with her daughter and unsure that her online science credits would be accepted. She was preparing to become a mom and a full-time student again when her daughter, and the pandemic, entered her life in March of 2020. Fate worked in Kali’s favor as the pandemic led numerous medical schools to begin accepting online science credits.

Excited and encouraged by news of her science credits being accepted, Kali took the MCAT for the first time in June of 2020 when her daughter was just 3 months old. She recalls the test and test environment being physically demanding as it was compressed due to the pandemic. Test takers were given just ten-minute breaks throughout the sessions. “Every ten-minute break I had, I would run out, chug a bottle of water, eat a granola bar, pump and run back in to take the test. It was brutal.” Kali didn’t get the score she wanted but wasn’t deterred. She transferred from Active Duty to the Reserves allowing her to enroll in classes to boost her resume and prepare to take the MCAT again. In 2021, she received a qualifying score and acceptance into the School of Medicine. Kali’s first day as a medical student was on July 29, 2022, as the oldest student in her class.

When asked how she balances medical school, her work, raising a child and prioritizing time with her family,

Kali lists a specific timeline of her days noting that she doesn’t feel an extra level of stress. “I can’t compare my experience since this is my first time to balance school with raising a child [Galia, now age 2]. I’m blessed that she is a very easy child.” She says that success for her while in school is doing well in her courses and being fully present with her family.

Medical school not only looks different for Kali from her peers in the day-to-day, but in the experiences she brings to her studies and patient interactions. Kali says that she can’t speak to her fellow students’ experiences but knows that her career and life experiences will make her a better physician than she would have been without them. She values the perspective that her life has given her to this point, which allows her to stay focused and steady. When asked what her advice for people who have regrets or wish they were in a different career, Kali said, “My advice would be to take a look at yourself and what is going to make you happy…and if getting that next degree or changing your career is it, then do it! I don’t think there’s an age limit on achieving your goals.”

For Nicky Hall, 47, a third-year graduate student in the Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Neuroscience, there were many twists and turns along the way to her graduate education, a destination she didn’t even know existed when she graduated college, recalling that women in science were not prominently known.

As a child, Nicky wanted to be a veterinarian. At RandolphMacon Woman’s College, she majored in biology with a concentration in pre-veterinary medicine. However, upon graduation in 1997, Nicky decided that she wasn’t interested in attending school for an additional 4 years and instead returned to being a veterinary technician, which she worked as through college. Soon Nicky wanted more from her career. With her love of animals still serving as her driving force, she applied for a job changing mouse cages at UT Southwestern. However, her experience as a veterinary technician allowed her to instead be hired as the Chief Animal Technician. In this role, she worked to breed mice in the lab of Tom Südhof, who later won a Nobel Prize. Nicky worked in Dr. Südhof’s lab for 6 years in an effort to learn as much as she could in the field of neuroscience. She spent a significant amount of time cutting brain slices, yielding a skill that would serve her well in the future.

During her time working in Dr. Südhof’s lab, she married and had a child. Due to a change in her husband’s job, their family moved to Virginia in 2006. Nicky was able to work in a variety of labs at the University of Virginia finishing her time there in a lab doing nicotine addiction research which she really enjoyed. “That’s where I began co-authoring papers, and where I really found myself as a scientist.” Even so, she still did not plan to go to graduate school. By the end of her time in Virginia, Nicky found herself a single mom with a busy schedule leading her to want to move closer to her home, Baton Rouge, LA. In this stage of life, Nicky had no time to even think about returning to school. In 2013, Nicky’s now-husband, a high-school classmate she had reconnected with, was working at a local hospital in Shreveport when she decided to make the move to the community. Nicky began working with former faculty member Ed Glasscock as his first lab manager for the Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy. She worked for 7 years in the department under two principal investigators (PI). Nicky remembers being asked why she hadn’t become a student yet, and for a long time it was simple: “I love my job, so I don’t have any reason to make a change.” But the idea slowly took hold, and she began taking • classes in the School of Graduate Studies as a non-matriculated student. After her first PI left, Nicky decided she wanted to be in control of her own lab. “After seeing other graduate students, I just knew. I can do this.”

Nicky became the first student in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Admissions Portal (IGP) in the fall of 2020, a two-semester program designed for students with broad interests who have not yet focused their research interests on a single area. She ultimately declared Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Neuroscience after her first two semesters, with her interest in animals still

playing an important role. Nicky is engaged in research studying animal models of diseases and working with mice and rats to study the neurovascular aspects of addiction.

During her time working and pursuing her PhD at LSU Health Shreveport, Nicky and her husband had a child, (Leah) who is now 6. They also have two adult children, Christopher Jr. and Bre. When asked how she balances her busy life, Nicky responded, “It’s kind of like juggling on a unicycle…I don’t know, I just have to.”

Vanessa Nganga, 39, endured a 20

year uphill battle to earn her associates degree. She enrolled in college right out of high school, but financial circumstances caused her to struggle to be able to stay in school and complete her degree. However, she was determined. Over this period, she tried to go back to college several times but ultimately was unable to finish. For Vanessa, beginning her current program, Medical Laboratory Sciences, at the age of 38 was a matter of circumstance and not at all a lack of talent or drive to succeed.

“We [Vanessa, her husband, and five children] lived, still live, in extreme poverty. We’ve experienced periodic homelessness, food insecurity, and even though we are still struggling massively, I know that I am working towards an attainable goal. My future career will set the foundation for us to dig ourselves out of this.”

Vanessa and her family moved to Ringgold, LA in 2018 to care for her ailing father and grandmother. During this time, Vanessa never missed a beat working in a phlebotomy lab to help make ends meet, caring for her father and grandmother, and driving two hours a day to and from Bossier Parish Community College (BPCC) to finally earn her associates degree. “It was really stressful and really difficult.”

While earning her associates degree, a professor mentioned a friend who had a career in laboratory science, and Vanessa’s interest was piqued. She had not been exposed to laboratory sciences as a career option previously. “I knew that’s what I wanted to be, and I’ve been working towards it ever since.” She began the steps toward applying to the Medical Laboratory Sciences program at LSU Health Shreveport by increasing her GPA, taking the required prerequisite courses, and finishing her associates degree at BPCC. “I was able to move from not being eligible to being able to apply and winning an interview. It took a while.” She credits her ability to be a mom and full-time student to her supportive husband and teammate. “We make it work.” Nicky says that for her, success is doing her best in the program. Her mantra is “PhD by 50”, and if she maintains her estimated graduation date in 2025, she will indeed have her PhD by 50. For those who are thinking about coming into graduate education later in life, Nicky has some advice. “It’s never too late. And nothing is easy. Don’t be afraid—just try it. I started with one class; I hadn’t taken a class in 20 years.”

Vanessa is now in her second semester of the program, with two to go. She mentions studying on her lunch break and during downtime at work to help keep up with her studies. Her goal is to understand the concepts she is learning and understand them confidently. Vanessa is finding a way to handle a rigorous program schedule, her job and her family. “Prayer… when it comes to balancing, I’m still learning. Thankfully, LSU Health Shreveport offers mental health services, so I utilize those as well.” Vanessa shared that it has taken a lot of internal work to get herself to the strong mental and emotional position she is in now.

Her belief is that if you want something, you just have to step out on a limb and do what it takes to make it happen. “I’m counting down the days • to August 2023. There is no other option but success for me. I know what is on the other side… so I will succeed. Not only am I doing this for myself, but for everything that I do, there are six other people dependent on my success, Alfred [husband], Isaiah, Wincate, Alexander, Elijah and Zariah. When I succeed, we all succeed. And that’s not a burden that I carry, it is a privilege in my eyes.”