Welcome to SHSS Alumnae Link!

This is where we connect with past pupils and find out what they’re up to now.

This week we linked with Fionnuala Crowley who graduated in 2012.

Name:

Fionnuala Crowley, Internal Medicine Resident Physician.

Lives: New York

Best Memory of Sacred Heart:

There are too many to pick one. Playing on hockey teams the first few years with Ms. O Flynn, debating in fourth year with Ms. Gilbert, going to the European parliament in Strasbourg with Rotary International in fifth year, playing a part in two school musicals. All the fun we had in Ms. O Donoghue’s English class and Mr. Pegler’s Physics class.

What were your favourite classes:

I loved my sciences and I did Chemistry, Biology, Physics and Agricultural science for my Leaving Cert. Languages weren’t my strong suit but I really enjoyed English classes with Ms. O Donoghue and Irish classes with Ms. Meade.

Tell us about your career progression to date:

I did my Leaving Cert in 2012 and did very well. I wanted to study medicine. I had received my HPAT results (admission test for medicine) months before results day so when I opened my LC results envelope I knew I wouldn’t have enough points. I missed medicine by 6 points that year. I went to UCD and studied Biomedical Health and Life Sciences. I repeated the HPAT in my first year in UCD but I had such a mental block with the exam. I didn’t improve my score by much and I missed medicine by 2 points that year.

While it wasn’t the course I wanted to be studying, in retrospect, I learned a lot while at UCD. I did a lot of work with UCD St Vincent De Paul working with very vulnerable adults and children across Dublin. I went to Tanzania teaching with UCDVO and developed a love for travel. In 2014, I attempted the HPAT a third time. I didn’t sleep a wink the night before and could barely remember my name leaving the exam. Between exam day and results day, resigned that I had done poorly in the exam for the third time, I made plans for Graduate Entry Medicine and spoke with my course director about leaving my course the following year with a general science degree. I even met with the bank about securing a loan. HPAT results day arrived and to my surprise, I had scored really well and had more than enough points for medicine anywhere in the country. I also received an offer from BARTs Medical School in London.

I started medicine in UCC in 2014. I again did so many valuable extracurricular activities throughout medical school. I volunteered with a suicide helpline, I was involved in a number of student societies and I spent every summer travelling. In fourth year of medical school, I was fortunate to be offered a sub-internship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. This meant that I had an opportunity to work with some of the leading cancer doctors in the world in one of the best cancer hospitals in the world. I also did an elective in Tanzania that summer, working in a children’s cancer hospital. On return to Ireland that September, I started the process of applying to work as a doctor in the USA. This process involves three separate 8-9 hour exams and a fourth exam after you qualify. Sitting a nine hour exam seems crazy, sitting four of them is a big feat. You also need to have research experience, so I was also trying to build up research experience on the side while still doing course work.

I graduated from Medicine in UCC in 2019. I was lucky enough to be offered one of the academic track intern spots at Cork University Hospital which meant that during my intern year (first year working as a doctor), I had protected time for research. My project, looking at genetic mutations in tumour cells floating in the blood of patients with lung cancer, was awarded a grant from Breakthrough Cancer Research. I was fortunate to spend time in the Drug Development Unit at Royal Marsden in London that year as well as some time at the Institute for Cancer Research in London. I also went to the US for interviews for training jobs that would start in June 2020.

n 2020, the COVID pandemic began with New York terribly affected in the first wave. In March 2020 I was offered a training job as an internal medicine resident at Mount Sinai Morningside West in New York City and I moved there in June of that year. Working as a doctor in both Ireland and then New York during the pandemic was v memorable. Moving my life across the Atlantic in the middle of a pandemic, even more so. I have a very unique job here, as New York has so much social disparity and such a diverse population. I rotate through a number of different clinics and hospitals. One week, I’m seeing patients in a free clinic in an area where a large number of patients live under the poverty line and two weeks later, I’m caring for some of the richest patients in the US in another hospital across the city. The illnesses and problems I treat are very different at the varying hospitals and clinics: In one clinic I’m trying to design a treatment plan for poorly controlled diabetes for an immigrant who doesn’t speak English, has no insurance and can’t read or write. Then, two weeks later, I’m helping a patient come up with a plan for their cancer care so they can still visit their various holiday homes throughout the year. Everyday is full of surprises and I’m never bored.

I will be applying for Oncology fellowship this summer which will put me on a path to being a cancer medicine doctor. I have spent the last two years doing research in my spare time at two world class Cancer institutes in New York, with some of the world leaders in their respective fields. I find out where in the US I’ll be spending the next 3 years of the journey in December.

If you weren’t doing your current job what would you do?

Probably a physical therapist or occupational therapist- a lot of joy helping people recover from critical illness and the hours are a lot better than being a doctor. I also love food, cooking, baking so maybe a chef or a New York food critic (I don’t know if that’s even a job).

Advice for my teenage self:

Do your best and be kind to yourself when things don’t go exactly to plan. Remember there are back roads to every destination and a lot of good experiences to be had on scenic routes.

Favourite Quote:

Every tide eventually turns.

What is your hidden talent?

I make an unreal apple crumble (much to the delight of some of my colleagues here).

Huge thanks to Fionnuala for taking the time to answer our questions.

See you soon for the next instalment of SHSS Alumnae Link.