‘Behind the Blue’: ‘No ceiling to learning’ for UK grad, family

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 15, 2025) — There’s a first time for everything, and on Friday, 71-year-old University of Kentucky College of Education graduate Ellen London will experience a significant first: attending a graduation ceremony to accept a diploma.

Ellen, who just earned her second master’s degree, didn’t attend the commencement ceremonies for her bachelor’s or first master’s degrees at other universities. She didn’t even attend her own high school graduation, citing her wariness of being in the spotlight in front of a crowd.

“There were 1,100 kids in my graduating 12th grade class, and you walked in by size — I was the fourth-shortest out of those kids, and really shy,” she said. “And I said, ‘There’s no way I’m doing that.’”

As she dons a cap and gown for the first time and readies herself to cross the stage at Rupp Arena, she’ll be cheered on by friends and family, including two family members who are also part of the UK community: her daughter, Tessa London-Bounds, M.D., a cardiothoracic surgeon with the UK Gill Heart & Vascular Institute, and her 10-year-old grandson, Harry, a cello player in the UK String Project with the College of Fine Arts.

In this episode of “Behind the Blue,” the trio joins us to talk about their nomadic upbringing, love of learning, and how the University of Kentucky has been able to provide each one of them with a vastly different educational experience. Below are highlights from the conversation, and you can listen to the full episode through either of the media players at the top of the page.

From life abroad to the Commonwealth

Ellen always had a desire to travel. She joined the Peace Corps alongside her husband for the opportunity to volunteer to help communities in other countries. During their second Peace Corps tour, they started a family, with the intent of raising their children to have a broad understanding of the world.

“The whole point was that we wanted our kids to see that people were pretty much the same… it really didn’t matter what color they were, and it really didn’t matter what language they spoke,” Ellen said. “Our plan was for our kids to speak a couple of languages and for them to have an idea that the world was not so big.”

With their two children — Tessa and her sister, Krista — the London family spent time in Morocco, Kenya, Ethiopia, France and Bangladesh, and the siblings also played sports and traveled with the South Asian International School Circuit. After high school, Tessa came to the U.S. for college, earning her medical degree from Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans. When it came time to choose residencies, she applied to the UK College of Medicine and UK HealthCare.

“I came up here because my mentor down there was a trauma surgeon, and the trauma program up here is very, very good,” Tessa said. “But by the time I got to the point where I was applying, my focus had shifted and I couldn’t see myself doing that in the long term.”

Instead, she chose cardiothoracic surgery, which immediately clicked for her. “As soon as I started doing cardiac surgeries, I knew this was where I was meant to be,” Tessa said.

After five years of general residency and a two-year cardiothoracic fellowship at UK, she went to Washington University for more specialized training in atrial fibrillation. Soon after, she returned to UK.

“I came back here because the job opportunity was what I really wanted in that point in my career,” she said.

When she had her son, Harry, her parents — who at that point had been living abroad for four decades — immediately decided to return to the U.S. and settle in Lexington alongside their daughter and grandson.

“When I had Harry, the pull was too strong,” Tessa said. “As soon as they met him, they moved up the street in Lexington, three houses down. I did not even know they were moving here. That was kind of a cultural change, but it was very good. Harry got the opportunity to really bond with my parents in a way that you can only get from grandparents.”

From catwalk to Wildcat

With her bachelor’s in music/psychology and her first master’s in library science, Ellen worked in education at various schools while living internationally. In 2000, she turned a hobby — making her own clothes — into a side gig that ultimately became her full-time career for nearly 15 years: fiber artist and fashion designer. One of her main models? Her own daughter, Tessa.

“People would stop and ask, ‘What is this fabric?’” she said. “Because I’d be mixing all sorts of fabrics. And I’d be talking [with strangers] about different countries and different  cultures — just like we had said we were going to do with our kids.”

While working full time as an artist and designer, Ellen had the opportunity to show her work at major shows, including Paris Fashion Week and New York Fashion Week. Her career was humming along… and then COVID-19 was discovered late in 2019.

“And then everything shut down… my business stopped because of the pandemic,” she said. “People stopped wearing clothes! I guess they were dressed a little nicer on the top for official [teleconference] meetings, but wearing pajamas and slippers on the bottom, I don’t know.”

That downtime — and the growing mental health burden that emerged during the pandemic — inspired another career turn. She sought a certification for life coaching to help others.

“As I did coaching with people, I realized that things were much deeper than what most people were talking about — it was a lot of stuff underneath,” she said.

With the University of Kentucky now just down the road, Ellen saw the opportunity to earn another degree. She applied for UK’s Donovan Scholarship, which pays tuition and mandatory course fees for adults 65 years and older who are taking academic classes at UK. Part of the university’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, the scholarship was established in the 1950s by then-UK President Herman L. Donovan, who believed education was a lifelong process.

Ellen pursued a Master of Arts in Counseling Education, an online degree housed in the UK College of Education. The virtual degree allowed her to continue her artistic projects on the side, as well as continue her coaching. It also helped her with managing another difficult life crisis: the death of her husband of 50 years.

Ellen was just one semester into the program when he became ill and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She recalls one instructor in particular who kept her going during this time.

“Dr. Kathy Sheppard-Jones in the College of Education,” she said. “I had to keep asking for extensions. And she said, ‘You don’t have to ask anymore, you’ve got it for the rest of the semester. We’ll get you through this.’ She epitomized what being a counselor was.”

Another motivating factor for Ellen to keep going was her daughter, Krista, who was working on a doctorate degree at the same time. With 2024 being a such a difficult year, Ellen says she was determined to end 2025 on a high note.

“[Initially] I thought we could both graduate at the same time, or close to each other — we’d inspire each other,” Ellen said. “In the end, she was the one who kept me going.”

In addition to classwork, she also recently completed 800 hours of behavioral health field work at the Bluegrass Community Health Center (BCHC), a facility offering accessible health care for the underserved — and where her husband had also worked as a medical provider. Working at BCHC was bittersweet, but she felt like she was helping to continue her husband’s legacy of wanting to help others.

“When he left work and then died shortly after, he wasn't able to say goodbye to colleagues and patients,” she said. “Finishing the UK counseling fieldwork requirement felt like closing the circle of service that had been broken unexpectedly.”

A lifelong passion for music

Throughout their lives, Ellen and Tessa have said there’s been one constant for their family: music.

“My dad was a professional musician, and music was his whole world,” Ellen said. “We didn’t have much else, but we had a lot of music lessons [and instruments]. It was the value system, because it was stuff that would pay you back. And it’s paid me back over and over. That’s what I wanted for Harry, that’s what I wanted for Tessa.”

That desire to make music a priority lives on. After she passed her national exam in October, Ellen decided to reward her hard work with a new — and very large — instrument.

“I bought myself a baby grand piano, which is crazy,” she said. “I had to empty out my whole living room for it. But when I first played it, it was like, ‘I’m in love.’”

The fields of biomedical sciences and music may seem worlds apart to some. But as a physician and lifelong musician, Tessa feels music has a direct connection to surgery.

“Research has shown that people who are the best at any sort of surgical specialty are people who have musical backgrounds, or sports backgrounds — they’re able to focus, take criticism, have discipline,” she said. “I think the best heart surgeons are people who can focus and really be able to see the details and adjust. And that’s what music allows you to do.”

Besides, she adds: “When the heartbeat comes back, it feels like a symphony you’ve created.”

Harry, a student at Lexington’s School for the Creative and Performing Arts (SCAPA), has followed in his mother’s musical footsteps. He currently takes lessons and performs with the UK String Project, housed in the UK College of Fine Arts.

“My mom kind of inspired me,” Harry said. “She played cello her whole life.”

 UK’s String Project is part of the National String Project Consortium, which focuses on preparing future string instrument music educators and providing access to string education for those who wish to learn an instrument. UK’s program is directed by Tze-Ying Wu, D.M.A., and provides instrument instruction on violin, viola and cello for children ages seven and up, from beginner to advanced levels.

Harry takes lessons from Ethan Young, cello instructor for the College of Fine Arts. Though Harry is only 10 years old, he’s already been playing cello for five years and has begun learning other instruments as well.

“The String Project allowed him to go to SCAPA,” Tessa said. “And he’s flourished since then… I don’t think he would be in that position if not for Ethan and the String Project.”

Also an avid athlete, Harry says he’s got his career path set: either Major League Baseball, the National Football League or the National Basketball Association. And if none of those pan out?

“Or, after that, be Yo-Yo Ma,” he said.

‘There’s no ceiling to learning’

When asked about her favorite memory of UK, Ellen names a few: Walking into William T. Young Library, which she describes as “magic.” Being at the Singletary Center to watch Harry play cello on a grand stage. Seeing Tessa graduate residency and wearing her white doctor’s coat with her name on it for the first time. For a family that’s spent a lifetime moving from country to country, they’re happy to have found a home in UK that has helped them each carve their own niche.

“It’s like you can find your place and then be able to give back, which is the whole point of life,” Tessa said. “It’s done that for our family in spades. To bring my family to one location in the U.S., even all on the same road, is pretty amazing for people who have moved around for 50-plus years.”

And even with her new diploma in sight, Ellen is already thinking of the next educational opportunity.

“I’m graduating, but I’ve already signed up for another certificate, because I want to learn more about trauma and the root of everything,” she said. “So, I’ll finish that in June. And then, I don’t know — I want to learn Dari and Farsi, and I want to be fluent in Spanish. So, there’s a lot left [to learn].”

“I think that we’re all very proud of her, and it’s been pretty amazing,” said Tessa. “I’ve always thought that women get better as they get older, and it’s because of this type of thing. There’s no ceiling to learning. And by doing it at 71… it says that there’s really no end point. You can continue to recreate yourself, change and have new chapters. I think that’s really wonderful and inspiring, because your life shouldn’t ever end up the way you anticipated it at 20.”

About ‘Behind the Blue’

“Behind the Blue” is available via a variety of podcast providers, including iTunes and Spotify. Become a subscriber to receive new episodes of “Behind the Blue” each week. UK’s latest medical breakthroughs, research, artists and writers will be featured, along with the most important news impacting the university.

“Behind the Blue” is a joint production of the University of Kentucky and UK HealthCare. Transcripts for this or other episodes of “Behind the Blue” can be downloaded from the show’s blog page.

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