From Ballet to Neuroscience: Nicole Kujas Begins M.D./Ph.D. Training at the Miller School
A former ballet trainee and aspiring “Triple Cane,” Nicole Kujas brings discipline, creativity and neuroscience research experience to the Miller School’s Medical Scientist Training Program.
By the time Nicole Kujas was 8 years old, she was spending hours every day in a ballet studio, training her body and mind for a standard of precision that left no room for shortcuts. She had been dancing since she was 3 and would eventually train with the Miami City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and Boston Ballet.
“Ballet is very delicate looking, but it’s not a very delicate sport,” Kujas said. “There’s a lot expected out of you and your body. Everything you do has to look easy, but it’s all incredibly challenging.”
The instinct to make extraordinary effort look effortless and to push through failure to achieve an outstanding result is one she now carries into a very different kind of training. This summer, she entered the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine as part of its Medical Scientist Training Program, pursuing a combined M.D./Ph.D. in neuroscience.
A Ballet Foundation Built on Discipline
Kujas grew up in a small town outside Philadelphia in a household steeped in science. Both of her parents are pharmacists. Dinner-table conversation often drifted into dosing and drug interactions.
“It kind of sounded like Charlie Brown to me,” she said of listening to her parents talk shop. But the exposure took root.
So did ballet. Summers were spent training with professional companies. The sport, she says, gave her an outlet distinct from her academic ambitions until she arrived at the University of Miami as an undergraduate and discovered that research could scratch the same creative itch.
“I really liked how you had to think outside the box and integrate these different mechanisms,” she said of her first lab experience, which began her sophomore year. “When your research wasn’t working, you had to try to find different avenues.”
It was, she realized, its own kind of choreography.
A Personal Path Toward Medicine and Neuroscience
Medicine had already found her by then. A high school primary care physician had guided her through a difficult stretch during the COVID-19 pandemic, when a family member’s struggle with addiction weighed heavily on her. He later helped her arrange shadowing opportunities.
That mentorship, paired with her growing pull toward research, led her to a combined-degree path she hadn’t originally considered. Working alongside an M.D./Ph.D. student and a lab’s principal investigator, she found a way to combine patient care with laboratory work aimed at real-world disease.
Her undergraduate research examined opioid use disorder. A later internship introduced her to Alzheimer’s research, studying calcium signaling in neurons. Both experiences steered her toward neuroscience and, eventually, to The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and a desire to conduct research in chronic pain as well as traumatic brain and spinal cord injury.
Kujas will be a “Triple Cane,” having earned her undergraduate degree at UM before returning for both her M.D. and Ph.D. The program follows a 2-4-2 structure: two years of medical school, four years of Ph.D. research, then two final years of clinical training. She’s ready for the journey.
“Dance taught me I’m capable of pushing myself to the fullest extent,” she said. “Sometimes you’ll fail a few times, or hit a bump in the road. But you take the breaks you need, and you keep climbing toward where you want to go.”
More from the Miller School of Medicine
The Miller School of Medicine welcomed 204 students during its White Coat Ceremony, marking the start of their journey to medicine.
Incoming M.D./Ph.D. student Kya Foxx explains how research, patient care and bioethics inspired the next step in a physician-scientist career.
Incoming M.D./M.B.A. student AJ Hernandez discusses engineering, physician leadership, pediatric ophthalmology and returning home to Miami.
First-generation student Corazón Pazmino begins M.D./Ph.D. training at the Miller School, pursuing cancer research and equitable patient care.
Tags: Department of Medical Education, dual degrees, M.D./Ph.D. program, medical education, Medical Scientist Training Program, neuroscience, spinal cord injuries, TBI, The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, traumatic brain injury, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine White Coat and Pinning Ceremony, White Coat Class of 2030