Tom Collins, `98 chemistry, says a person with his background is more likely to move to the moon than become a pediatric cardiologist at Stanford’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. But that’s exactly what he did, and he credits Tennessee Tech for giving him the opportunity.
Collins grew up in Morgan County, one of the perennially lowest-income, least-educated counties in Tennessee. His father dropped out of high school, and his mother worked at a local prison.
“I don’t know that it ever occurred to me that guys like me, from where I’m from, aren’t supposed to do the things that I’ve done,” said Collins. “But here I am, a doctor on the faculty at Stanford.”
Now, Collins has chosen to give back to his alma mater. He and his wife Missy established the Future Leader in Healthcare Scholarship for students majoring in a healthcare field. Collins says he wants students considering Tech to know that they can do anything and go anywhere with a Tech education.
Read full story here: Tech Took Us There – Tom Collins (tntech.edu)