Stanford Medicine bioethicist Tyler Tate found high levels of success in ballet, miming, acting, fencing and collegiate tennis. But his love of storytelling ultimately led him to medicine.

The Unconventional Path of Stanford Medicine hematologist Tamara Dunn had her eyeing a career on Broadway.

Stanford Medicine's Sean Quirin once looked upward with a telescope, seeking clues to the universe. Now he trains his optical eye inward with a fascination for understanding the brain and the complex maladies that afflict it.

Statistics expert Julia Salzman returned to biology and has married her two areas of expertise to design a new form of genomics analysis.

Bright Zhou learned from an interest in studying ancient DNA how storytelling is at the root of good family medicine.

Once a professional climber, Joe Forrester had a near-death experience that put him on a path to be a trauma surgeon at Stanford Medicine.

Purvesh Khatri has followed a winding path to medicine -- one that started with a hate for biology and a career in engineering.

Stanford Medicine primary care physician Angie Chen was once a Buddhist nun, now she practices medicine to help others heal.

A philosopher by nature, Christopher Gardner had a meandering, yet purposeful, path to nutrition science and food sustainability.

Bioengineer Alison Marsden uses computer modeling skills honed on submarines to help surgeons plan the best repairs for babies' hearts.

Benedikt Geier traverses academic fields in pursuit of a chemical analysis that images the intimate relationships between microbe and host.

After starting his career as a veterinarian, scientist John Gorzynski turned to research, investigating great ape genetics and cardiology.