Jeremy Kurtzman
Facing a Fear
Jeremy Kurtzman grew up in Plainview, New York and attended Binghamton University where he graduated with a degree in integrated neuroscience in 2021. After, Kurtzman worked as an EMT for two years. As an EMT, Kurtzman saw cases ranging from strokes and cardiac arrests to trauma. Kurtzman said a lasting lesson from the experience was learning how to deal with patients. “The most important part of it was patient care—interacting with people in high-stress situations and being able to de-escalate them and the situation,” said Kurtzman. “It’s critical thinking at its finest. You’ll never go into a scary or stressful situation and not be scared or stressed, but you learn that there are ways to manage the stress and make effective decisions.”
Kurtzman said that he had a visceral fear of doctors and blood until he was a sophomore in college when he realized, in his words, “If you have a passion, you can move past your fears.” One of the main attractions for Kurtzman in medicine aside from helping people is the changing nature of the field. “I like the fact that we’re never done learning new things,” he said. “There are constant discoveries and we’re consistently revising our treatment methods and protocols based on data. It’s an ever-evolving science.” He isn’t sure what he wants to specialize in but is leaning towards emergency medicine given his experience as an EMT.
