NSU Horizons Spring 2018

31 NSU HORIZONS Negron was a rising junior in high school when her grandfather took ill. It fell to her to help care for him— making sure he took his medicine, walking him around the hospital, and feeding him meals. As her grandfather’s care- giver, she experienced that first and pivotal moment that made her begin to consider a career in medicine. Later, as an undergraduate student intern, experiences with deceased patients affirmed her decision to pursue medicine. One patient was a 20-something organ donor named Katie, whom Negron perhaps related to as a young woman, their lives stretched out in front of them; Katie’s cut short. Negron, a summer intern at the Medical University of Graz in Austria, assisted the transplant surgeons as they removed Katie’s heart, liver, and kidneys, to send to patients in three different countries. “Of all the surgeries I saw in the program, this one stayed with me and caused me the most self-reflection,” she said. “As one organ after another was removed, I realized that I had found my life’s purpose. I wanted to spend my days in the operating room as a surgeon. Katie’s gift to others showed me that what I really wanted most was to practice surgery and give people their lives back.” Negron’s goal is to become a physician, open a women’s health care center, and practice in a medically under- served community. “Serving as student government president taught me about engagement, service, leadership, and patience,” said Negron. But those who know her say she had those qualities coming in. “Natalie was, in many ways, unique among our very best and brightest honors students,” said Don Rosenblum, Ph.D., dean of the Farquhar Honors College, where Negron’s star quality was equally evident as an undergraduate. “Natalie was a strong undergraduate leader and excep- tional student—a role model and trailblazer for many of her classmates,” Rosenblum said. “That’s even more the case today.” ¨