Health-Tech Companies Visit CANDI to Talk About Careers and Experiences

Students hear from Health-tech representatives as they share insight into their work, career paths and notable experiences. 

Representatives from two health-tech companies visited students doing Access to Medical Biosciences courses and Access to Health and Humans Sciences courses at City and Islington’s Sixth Form College on 27 September. The health-tech professionals presented insights and information on careers in their field and took time to answer the students’ questions.

Iona Mackillop, a medical writer, and Oliver O’Reilly, an animator, talked about their work at Cognitant, a company specialising in empowering people to make decisions about their healthcare through digital resources. 

Iona and Oliver described how Cognitant works to provide clear information for people trying to understand the diagnoses of close friends or family members. They discussed the intrinsic benefits of working to make a difference for others and gave examples of how they’d been able to support clients as they dealt with a loved one’s illness.

During the same session, Rolake Ojo, a freelance graphic designer and brand strategist, spoke about her unique and unconventional career path. After qualifying as a doctor and practising for three years, Rolake realised that she no longer wanted to be a doctor. 

In the Q&A session, Rolake described her inspirational personal journey from doctor to designer, which involved the challenge of explaining to her Nigerian family that she wanted to diverge from her expected career path. Her reasoning was clear – she recognised the intense effort, energy and dedication to medicine needed to work as a doctor while simultaneously realising that she did not have passion for her role as a doctor.

Taking time to reflect on her other skills and interests led Rolake to design school, where she felt validated and was able to express her creativity. Rolake highlighted the importance of having a broad circle of voices when making significant career decisions and encouraged students to deliberate, experiment and explore.

Currently, Rolake combines her medical knowledge and design skills to offer graphic design solutions for healthcare initiatives and providers. The work challenges her in different ways, but her passion for design and the sense of purpose it brings keeps her energised and motivated. Rolake encouraged the students to take time to maintain self-awareness in order to discover their true purpose in life.

Both Cognitant and Rolake Ojo are members of Health Foundry, a co-working space for digital health companies. Chris French, Health Foundry’s Director of Strategy said: “The work of the members of Health Foundry is forward-looking and thinking, always to help others. These talks helped to show that a career path in health can be very different to what we might think of as the traditional route.”

Share!