For many people, turning 37 is a time to consolidate an established career and focus on family. For Damilola Odukoya, it was the beginning of an entirely new chapter.

Already married, a mother of three and working as a laboratory technician in a hospital, Odukoya made the bold decision to return to the classroom and pursue her long-standing ambition of becoming a medical doctor.

Her journey began with an unusual step for someone her age: she sat for the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination nearly two decades after her first attempt.

Her goal was to study Medicine at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), an ambition that would require her to leave behind the relative stability of her existing career and commit several years to medical training.

It was not an easy decision.

At the time, Odukoya had a family to care for, a husband, three children and a job. Yet she chose to take the risk, returning to formal education at an age when many of her prospective classmates were only beginning their university journeys.

She was eventually admitted to study Medicine at the University of Lagos College of Medicine.

Her age soon became one of the distinguishing features of her experience.

While surrounded by much younger classmates, Odukoya reportedly became affectionately known as “Mummy” among some of them.

But beyond the nickname was the reality of having to navigate the demanding requirements of medical school while also being a wife and mother.

At one point during her training, she had to combine her medical education with caring for a baby who was less than a year old.

The demands of lectures, clinical training, examinations and motherhood meant that her journey required considerable sacrifice and determination.

Her husband, Abiodun Odukoya, was also reported to have played an important role in supporting her throughout the process.

Rather than allowing her age or family responsibilities to end her pursuit of Medicine, Odukoya continued until she eventually achieved her goal.

In 2022, she graduated from the University of Lagos College of Medicine as a medical doctor.

Her journey from laboratory technician to doctor is particularly remarkable because of the years between her first attempt at JAMB and her eventual return to the examination room.

It is also a reminder that academic and career journeys do not always follow a straight line.

For Odukoya, marriage, motherhood and an existing career did not mark the end of her educational ambitions. Instead, they became part of the story of how she eventually achieved them.

Her experience has since drawn attention to the possibilities of returning to education later in life, changing careers and pursuing long-held ambitions despite responsibilities that might otherwise make such decisions seem impossible.

At 37, Odukoya did not consider herself too old to start again.

Years later, she emerged not just with another degree, but with the title she had returned to school to earn: Doctor.