Newswise — At the age of 61, Clarence "Nic" Nicodemus is getting ready to take that next step in his life, and it's not retirement.
At a time when most people are beginning to slow down, Nicodemus is graduating from the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine (COM) and is preparing for his one-year internship.
When he joined the ranks of COM students four years ago, Nicodemus said that going to medical school was the next logical step in his career, one that would fulfill a lifelong dream. Now that he's graduating, he said he is more convinced than ever that he made the right decision.
"It more than met my expectations," he said. "I learned a tremendous amount, of course, and met a lot of really interesting people along the way."
One thing he did learn, though he suspected it all along, was that he really enjoyed working with patients.
"I feel like I can relate to patients of any age," he said. "A patient can bring up any subject " grandchildren or a death in the family or a disease in the family " and I can relate to them.
"These are things you accumulate over the years. You can't get life experiences in a classroom."
Nicodemus came to MSU in 2000 after spending a decade at the University of Texas where he taught classes and did orthopedic research. That experience led him to the field of osteopathic medicine and, in particular, osteopathic manual medicine, or OMM.
"That is why I came here," he said. "Manual medicine is something I really enjoy."
And that leads to his next assignment: an internship at Mt. Clemens General Hospital where OMM is a way of life.
"There they are doing in-hospital research with manual medicine, which is kind of unique," he said.
After his internship, Nicodemus hopes to settle into a university setting, dividing his time between clinical work, teaching and research.
He said he is particularly grateful to the support he received from everyone at the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine. He said the students, some of whom have parents younger than he is, made him feel very welcome, as did the administration.
"I cannot emphasize enough the support of the people here at the school," he said. "Everyone, from the dean on down, have been so incredibly supportive of having this 'old guy' come and go through this thing."
Originally from California, he earned bachelor's and master's degrees, and eventually a doctorate from the University of California-Davis. In addition to teaching and research, Nicodemus also worked at NASA, working on space station design.
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