The Cleveland Clinic’s Dr. Carl Allamby, 53, practices emergency medicine, which is especially commendable considering that he was only 51 when he graduated from medical school.
Allamby worked for 25 years as a small company owner and automobile technician. He told a famous magazine that his career in small business started in “desperation” but ended up being quite successful.
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Allamby nevertheless realized that he was looking for more satisfying employment even after developing two more sites and starting other businesses that were connected to it, such as a used vehicle firm and a towing service.
Allamby stated, “I had always wanted to go into medicine as a child, it’s just that where I grew up, there were a lot of things that were missing for people who want to become doctors.” He added, “There just wasn’t a lot of money around, we grew up in a really poor neighborhood.”
Allamby said he had originally planned to attend college to get a business degree, but that everything changed when he enrolled in a science course after his program.
“After I graduated, I decided that I did want to do something in the medical field,” he continues, mentioning that one of his instructors “really encouraged me to go into medicine.”
Allamby ultimately made the decision to enroll in medical school in 2015, driven by his ability to save money, his family’s encouragement, and his relationships with people in the medical industry.
“She was fantastic,” referring to his spouse. “She was a supporter of mine from day one…she was right by my side from day one, never a word of doubt.”
Furthermore, Allamby claims that after starting medical school, it was time to “leave the automotive business behind.”
Despite the difficulties, Allamby states that after figuring out a study strategy that worked for him, he understood that being a doctor was the right career choice “for me.”
Allamby explains his choice to become an emergency physician by saying he enjoys “being the guy who’s there to help pick up the pieces, to put life back together.”
Additionally, Allamby claims that even though his prior work had little to do with medicine on the surface, it did help him prepare for what was ahead.
“My whole life in my automotive career, my training of diagnostics, of repair, of doing complex procedures, of using information, highly advanced electronics,” he stated, “all of those things prepared me for medicine.”
After graduating from medical school in 2019, Allamby felt “fantastic.” He was 47 years old at the time.
“To finally see the culmination of all that work that I had put into and all of those relationships that I had formed…was one of the most memorable times of my life,” he stated.
Taking things “one day at a time” and maintaining “a positive mindset,” according to Allamby, is the key to striking a work/life balance, despite his incredibly hectic schedule these days.
And he claims he always finds time for important things, like ballroom dancing classes with his wife. The father of four children and grandpa of one says this.
Additionally, he offers some wise counsel to others who aspire to pursue their aspirations later in life and desire to follow in his footsteps.
“You have to find some way to manage the present while working towards a different future,” Allamby remarked. “When you have that kinda hope and those kinds of dreams, and you mesh that together with really good planning and surround yourself with really good people, almost anything can happen.”
