Thank You for Keeping your Word Mr. Carl Simmons

Q&A with Chelsea Stubbs

 Hello Chelsea, so what did you receive?

I received a set of medical textbooks and study materials from Mr Carl Simmons of Cargo Express Services Ltd/Tropical Shipping TCI. Since moving on to the clinical years of my training, I have come to realise the importance of building a strong grasp of the principles underpinning diseases and these books support my studies.

Why did you receive the gift; what inspired Mr. Simmons to support you in this way?

The commitment to sponsor books for me was actually gifted at my 2019 A Level graduation ceremony at the British West Indies Collegiate. When Mr Simmons came up to speak after hearing about the challenges I had during my studies and how I overcame them, I suppose he was very moved by it.

Medical textbooks are classically very expensive (a single good textbook can easily cost $130), and he pledged to pay for the books that I would need for my studies. It turned out that for the first two years of medical school I did not require textbooks, but upon entering my third year there was a very clear need. And surely enough three years later they have indeed kept their promise.

Describe the books and how does this donation help?

I asked for a range of textbooks as recommended by doctors and medics further along in their training. These include reference textbooks, such as “Kumar’s Pathologic Basis of Disease”, and the classic “Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine”, which will be incredibly useful for making sure I have the foundations of clinical practice. In fact, I’ve been using these books quite extensively since the day I received them!

I also got textbooks for mastery of quite isolated areas of medicine such as interpreting imaging. For this I got Herring’s “Learning Radiology” textbook and for consolidating knowledge I got Dr Xiu’s “1000 SBAs for Medical Finals” and “Rang and Dale’s Pharmacology Flashcards”… among other books. They are already proving to be incredibly useful to my studies.

What are you studying and where?

I am studying the six-year Medicine (MBBS) degree at Imperial College, London. It is a very academically challenging environment as one of the top three medical schools in the world (according to Time Higher Education). We are taught by some world-renowned physicians and researchers who are experts in their field, so it’s no surprise that they expect a lot from their students as well. I just want to have the resources to become the best physician I can be and make the most of the learning opportunities presented to me. I’m so grateful for the books.

More about Chelsea

I’m in my third year, otherwise known as my first clinical year. We are rotating through hospital specialities for the academic year and are now learning how to diagnose and manage conditions.

In my first year I placed second overall for my cohort, also receiving first in one of my modules. For the combined pre-clinical years I was awarded a Distinction in Medical Sciences.

Outside of my studies I lead an educational series for the largest academic society at Imperial (MedEd), Chair the Lifestyle Medicine Society, give lectures to younger students, and play volleyball.

I have also continued my flute-playing with the medical school’s Jazz Band. We have an upcoming concert this Christmas.