1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Hello everyone! My name is Kim Kolb. Outside of medicine I have about the longest bucket list of things I want to do that someone can have! In the last few years I have been able to cross off skydiving, snorkeling, and parasailing! My boyfriend and I love to travel and are heading off to a 16 day European adventure in London, Paris, Zurich, Venice, Florence, and Rome in about a month (I am beyond excited =)) Other than that I plan on becoming fluent in Spanish, learning guitar, and developing my creative writing hobby.

2. Who was your favorite teacher in school and how did he or she impact you?
As far as my favorite teacher in school I want to take that in a different direction. In my early premed classes I was unfocused and interested in pretty much anything you mentioned that remotely related to medicine. This led me to go to just about every meeting and never really choose solid interests. It took the intensity of nursing school and my first year of working to focus my energies.

3. When did you first decide you wanted to become a doctor and why? 
Like many of you, I have wanted to be a doctor since I was very young. I was in a terrible boat crash when I was 8 that left me short one aunt and with a huge passion for medicine. I was so curious about what all the machines did that the nurses thought I must have been in shock =p (which I probably was), Unfortunately, my early grades at university were not good and not trending upward. This led me to change directions and head off to nursing school. The desire to be a doctor never truly left me.

4. What area of medicine are you interested in?
Working in dialysis and on a cardiac unit made me passionate about nutrition and palliative care. As a doctor it will be important to me to advocate for palliative care and educate all physicians on its importance.

5. What’s the coolest experience you’ve had so far on your premedical journey?
The challenges of being a new nurse always take a toll. In order to cope I found that VIDA volunteer travel trips really kept me grounded. This also bred an interest in public and global health! I hope to make it into a medical school with a strong global health program. Maybe this summer you all can read about my exploits on my new blog ;). If I had tried to go straight from undergrad to applying to medical school I would not be so motivated and focused.

6. Tell us one thing interesting about you that most people don’t know.
One thing interesting about me is that I love to write! I actually wrote a rough draft of a fantasy trilogy many years ago. If I ever find it, I’ll finish it and try to have it published! I love reading fantasy novels. Sometimes I need to get out of myself for a while!

7. If you couldn’t be a doctor, what would you want to do?
While applying to NP programs this past year I realized I would never be happy until I went back and tried again! I could not see myself as anything but a doctor!

8. What has been your biggest obstacle as a premed and how did you (or are you) overcome it? 
As a premed my biggest barrier to overcome will be my early grades. The only thing I can do is make sure the rest of the classes I take end in A’s and that the rest of my application is strong.

9. What do you like most about PreMed STAR?
Sites like premed star and all of the online studying tools are amazing! I wish I would have had them 10 years ago! This site is such an inspiration. I look at everyones amazing profiles and it motivates me to keep building mine!
Thank you so much for electing me premed star of the week!

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