The "what I wanna be when I grow up" dream checklist:
Rock star
Secret agent
Pro athlete
Astronaut
(And perhaps more recently "social media influencer," but I digress.)
Nicolas Nelson, an MD candidate (MS4) at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, always leaned in the astronaut direction.
He grew up in Southern California and often went camping with his family in the Mojave Desert, where the night sky was darker and the stars shone brighter. Nelson remembers looking up and listening as his grandfather talked to him about the vastness of space.
"That's what hooked me into wanting to be a doctor in the first place — thinking how tiny our lives are and wanting to help people live their best lives," he recalls.
And while "doctor" may also be on a lot of kids' career wish lists, what kind of educational, motivational, and talent mix does one have to muster to become an MD and an astronaut?
It starts with something like this:
As Nelson pursued a path to become a radiation oncologist, he never stopped looking up at the stars. He came across the book Space Physiology and Medicineand was intrigued by the idea that he could potentially merge his two interests.
