<p>Health professional students may experience overlaps between their own lives and their course of study. Such experiences may include: personal experiences of illness or disability; family illness, caregiving or bereavement; and collective experiences of health inequities. However, little is known about the role of such experiences in students’ decisions to study health. We describe findings from interviews with 22 students and graduates in Aotearoa New Zealand, who self-identified as having experienced significant overlaps between their study and own lives. Participants described studying health in response to health-related experiences in four ways: meeting family needs; improving life for others in similar situations; exposure to healthcare as consolidating interests; and making meaning after bereavement. We also explore contexts in which participants made decisions about study, including family support, secondary school, and early tertiary study. We argue that health-related experiences and commitment to whānau| family should be recognised more widely in exploring why and how students select health professional qualifications. We also identify the importance of academic and career mentoring programmes throughout secondary and early tertiary education which nurtured students’ aspirations for success in sciences and health education.</p>