Laura Barritt was a perfectionist in medical school, studying every day except Christmas. “On a typical day I would wake up around 9am, then study until 11pm,” she said. “I repeated that cycle for six years. It worked out in the end, because I did quite well.”

To say that she did “quite well” is an understatement.

In June, Dr Barritt graduated from medical programme at the University of Glasgow as the top student with the best exam grades.

Dr Barritt also won a pathology award, and was recognised as the top student at St Andrews in Scotland, where she did part of her programme.

She became interested in medicine while admitted to hospital as a teenager.

“The nurses inspired me more than the doctors,” she said. “Some of the doctors were harsh in their interactions with patients. I thought if I went into medicine I could offer a gentler approach.”

However, Dr Barritt was an average student in high school without a lot of self confidence.

“I was a very quiet person,” she said. “The school system, public or private, is not conducive to shy people. You get ignored, or forgotten about.”

Everything changed when she switched to being home-schooled in the ninth grade. Sister Judith Rollo, former principal of Mount Saint Agnes Academy, became her teacher and mentor.

“She really encouraged me to become academic,” Dr Barritt said. “She was amazing. I really wanted to make her proud. I thought I couldn’t go to medical school since I was home-schooled, but Sister Judith showed me that I could. She believed in me.”

Dr Barritt does not think she would have made it to medical school if she had stayed in her former private high school.

“I just did not have that type of relationship with my teachers,” she said. “I didn’t really have any drive. When I became home-schooled everything shifted.”

Sister Judith moved to Boston during the Covid-19 pandemic and died in 2021.

“She did get to meet my husband before I was married,” Dr Barritt said. “It was a shame, though, that I did not get to see her before she left Bermuda.”

The Covid-19 period was one of her hardest times in university. She was in her second year of medical school when the pandemic hit in March 2020 and classes went online.

“We could not leave the university,” she said. “I could no longer go up to Glasgow to see my husband. I couldn’t see my friends. I could no longer go home to Bermuda.

“Previously, I had gone home three or four times a year, even if it was for my study week. Because of the pandemic, I did not go home for several years.”

In 2020, she was too early in her training to help with any Covid medical care.

The monotony of getting up, going on Zoom, studying, then going to bed was hard, and she eventually took a year off from school.

When the world opened up again, she went back to university. “The best part of my studies was my general practice placements,” she said.

Dr Barritt loved chatting with patients.

“It can be really therapeutic for the patient just to have a normal chat with somebody about something unrelated to their medical care,” she said. “I quite liked that part.”

She found she loved pathology — the study of diseases, but decided against going into it because there is no direct contact with patients.

She is now working in Inverclyde, Scotland, doing the first of two required foundation years.

“You have to do those before you can specialise,” she said. “I will probably go into family medicine. My husband is a family physician, so it would nice to open a little practice together.”

She has enjoyed her time in Glasgow. “I was a bit anxious going to Glasgow initially,” she said. “However, it is a really welcoming city. Glaswegians have a reputation for being a bit rough around the edges, but I have never met an unpleasant Glaswegian. It has been a really good place to go to school.”

However, she is not a city person. When she is finished her foundation years, she wants to leave Britain.

“I love the UK, but it is not home,” she said. “I would like to do my training in Canada and then return to Bermuda.”

She thought it was easier to feel part of a community on the island.

“I like to chat to people,” she said. “I like the continuity of care that you get with family medicine more so than with other specialities.”

Her advice to other Bermudians who want to go into medicine is to be realistic about your expectations.

“It is a big commitment,” she said. “It takes all your teen years and early twenties. When most people are having fun, you have to be sitting there studying. You have to be willing to give up a lot of that.”

Dr Barritt said if you are willing to make the necessary sacrifices, medicine can be a rewarding career.

“Patients give you more trust than in any other profession,” she said.