Katrina Nietsch, ISMMS '26

Biography

When Katrina Nietsch enrolled in the U.S. Naval Academy after graduating college, she knew she wanted to serve on the front lines.

She had been in middle school on September 11, 2001, and that was a major moment for her. “I wanted to serve my country from that moment on,” the former Lieutenant Commander says.

“The Navy underlined for me that the essence of mission success relies on the team, and caring for others.”

She signed up to be a pilot in the U.S. Navy and soon found herself flying the C-2A Greyhound, a twin-engine plane that delivers cargo to aircraft carriers.

Among many high stakes missions around the world, her first deployment as a C-2 pilot was a career turning point. She was on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean about 400 miles off the coast of Acapulco, Mexico, when a young sailor on board got very sick, suffering from severe seizures. She was tapped to fly the sailor to Mexico for life-saving care.

“Flying that MEDEVAC mission with our sailor on board was a watershed moment for me, as it galvanized my desire to pursue medicine,” she says.

She applied to Icahn Mount Sinai through the streamlined pathway to medical school for active service members. She was accepted in 2019 but the unique Military Institutional Partnership allowed the flexibility to defer acceptance for several years to fulfill her service commitment to the Navy.

“The flexibility of the program allowed me to continue my service as a pilot, which ultimately prepared me for medicine,” she says. “As in the Navy, medicine involves high-stakes responsibility and quick risk calculations under pressure. The Navy also underlined for me that the essence of mission success relies on the team, and caring for others.”

She played sports all her life, first as a young girl playing football with her older brother and was recruited to play varsity lacrosse at the Naval Academy. Now in medicine, she is leaning towards a career in sports medicine.