UTHSC students set to begin work in healthcare and research after commencement ceremony

At the age of 53, Chad Kennedy three years ago returned to school at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center to earn a bachelor of science in nursing. It’s not a path that many would be brave enough to take, but for Kennedy, it's what made the most sense.

For the last 17 years, Kennedy lived and worked in Germany as a missionary, and for the last 10 years in an office job. He eventually realized that sitting in front of screens and away from human interaction just wasn't the right fit for him.

"With a job from home, I was isolated, I was lonely," he said. "I did not like sitting in front of two screens and not being able to be in contact with my people on a regular basis."

Kennedy and his family returned to the U.S. during the pandemic in 2020, believing they would return. But soon a new career path presented itself, one in which Kennedy could return to having a direct, personal and positive impact on people.

That journey came full circle when Kennedy joined 50 students who earned their bachelor of science in nursing in a Monday morning commencement as part of the 2023 summer graduating class. Another 31 students earned their doctorate of philosophy, master of science, or master of dental science.

Dr. Peter Buckley, UTHSC's chancellor, challenged the graduates to remember why they chose to pursue medicine.

“As you embark on your new or expanding career, you will take with you the core mission of UTHSC, and that is to improve the health and well-being of all communities that we serve,” Buckley said. “Remain mindful of why you’ve chosen your field of study, and mindful of all those sacrifices that you and your family have made to get to this day. Apply that same passion to all that you do, and you have the opportunity to make the world a better place as you enter it now as a practitioner or as a scientist.”

Kennedy said he seems nursing as a form of ministry, a way to help people. "I'm not directly spreading the gospel, and I'm not doing a support role, like I was doing," he said. "But I'm able to touch people every day in nursing, and that's what I liked about making the change − I'm with my people that I'm serving every day."

Going from ministry to healthcare may seem like a huge adjustment, but Kennedy said it's been easier than it appears. From his first career working in the service industry selling merchandise at Windyke County Club, to the ministry and office work, Kennedy's time in multiple fields has given him the life experience to thrive in a new profession.

"I think, at my age making this change, I'm able to relate to a lot of different life experiences that people are going through," he said. "I think I bring the dual aspect of work and life experience in the hospital setting. So in that way, I think that's an easy bridge for me to cross − to be able to empathize and sympathize with people in different settings."

The education experience at large colleges can often be an impersonal one, but Kennedy said his time at UTHSC was great due to the connection professors made with students.

“All the instructors took a genuine interest in students,” Kennedy said. “They wanted us to succeed. It would have been really easy for them to say hey, you're just another student, and if you fall behind, you just fall through the cracks. But I think whenever I let them know that I was struggling, and I was sincere, that was reciprocated to me. And they were able to help me... get back on track.”

Kennedy already has a new job lined up at Baptist Memorial Hospital, where he will be working in the oncology unit early next month. He said this accomplishment simply wouldn't have been possible without the support of his family and wife, who returned to teaching in the summer of 2021.

"I couldn't have taken this year off from working if it wasn't for my wife," he said. "We just couldn't have made this transition without the support of family. We're going to stay here in Memphis, so we look forward to our kid finishing school in Lakeland, and sticking around."

Students from all across the world come to study at UTHSC, including Dr. Kamalika Samanta. She got her undergrad in her home country of India before coming to the US and earning a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences. Dr. Samanta worked in a lab which is developing a vaccine for Lyme disease, a lab which recently created an animal vaccine now in the market.

“So my lab focuses on Lyme disease itself,” Samanta said. “My part of the work was to screen different vaccine candidates that we can target for Lyme disease.”

Samanta also studies ticks -- the carriers of Lyme disease. She said that due to climate change ticks are becoming more prevalent in areas they were previously not found.

“The other part of my work was…how the temperature as well as humidity or other environmental factors could also be responsible for enhanced Lyme disease activity or enhanced tick activity in areas which might have previously been dormant,” she said.

As she described her work, Samanta's love of the field became obvious. She explained that she “always had a passion for research, to learn something new." Thankfully, she will be able to continue pursuing her passion, as she has already secured a job as senior scientist at Merck in Philadelphia. Samanta knows the education she received at UTHSC was a big part of that achievement.

“I’m feeling really happy because this is like my dream job,” she said. “Getting that opportunity here and everyday like learning something new, I feel really happy and blessed to be honest, because everyone I don't think will get this chance. But I got this chance, and I’m thankful for that.”

Jacob Wilt is a news reporter for The Commercial Appeal. You can reach him at jacob.wilt@commercialappeal.com

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: UTHSC students set to begin work in healthcare after commencement