He considered a career in medicine, perhaps as a nurse or physician’s assistant. Being a doctor seemed impossible because of the years of study it would require. He was 40, had a family, and was still running a business.
But he had role models this time. And when he brought it up to the two black doctors he’d befriended at the Severance Athletic Club, Drs. Kenneth Lane and David Headen, they told him to aim high.
“It was just incredible, the support they gave me, saying ‘You can do it, this is totally possible,’ ” he said.
NONTRADITIONAL STUDENT, NONTRADITIONAL PROGRAM
After wrapping up his business degree with a 3.98 GPA, Allamby began taking basic science courses at
Cuyahoga Community College while he figured out what was next.
A chemistry teacher told him about a new program at
Cleveland State University that offered intense undergraduate classes, help preparing for the Medical College Admissions Test, and then, if successful, a spot at the
Northeast Ohio Medical University in Rootstown. The
Partnership for Urban Health sought to recruit and train doctors, especially minority doctors, to practice urban communities.
Allamby missed the enrollment cutoff for that year and took more Tri-C classes to prepare. He aced them all.
“While he was in the classroom with me, I worked him pretty hard,” said Dr. Ormond Brathwaite, dean of STEM at Tri-C and Allamby’s Chemistry 2 professor.
Brathwaite gave Allamby more than an “A” when the course ended. Brathwaite’s daughter had just passed the medical school exam, and he gave Allamby her books and study materials knowing the work ahead of him.
“It was a steep climb, but he had the intellect,” Brathwaite said.
Allamby completed the two years at CSU and got his second undergraduate degree, acing the NEOMED entrance exam in 2015. But before classes began, he had to dissolve his auto repair business by hiring an auctioneer and selling off everything in a day.
“It was like, ‘Finally, I am free of this and I can go after something I’ve always wanted,’ ” he said.
His workload didn’t decrease, though. Medical school was rigorous and Allamby, commuting from Beachwood, also had a family life: His wife, Kim, and two grade-schoolers at home and two grown children from a previous marriage. Going to school full time would eat through his savings and require hefty student loans.
“The stakes were high, like, ‘Man I really can’t fail,’ ” he said.
That meant buckling down with the books.
“There were a lot of days where it was like, ‘Oh my God, I have this mound of paperwork to go through, all of this information to understand, how am I ever going to get this down and also spend time with my kids?’ And my wife would tell me, ‘Hey, we’re OK, go do some studying, do whatever you have to do and get it done.’ ”
He did. Not only did he ace every class, he was appointed by then-Gov. John Kasich to serve as the student representative on the school’s Board of Trustees.
“He is the poster child for this program,” said Dr. Jay Gershen, president of NEOMED. “It’s not just what he’s doing, it’s who he is. He’s an amazing man.”
find your calling and go after it
