Tamara is from Minnesota originally and attended Carleton College where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry.  As a college student, she was drawn to the arts – film, writing, developing screenplays, recording podcasts—as a way to reach people.  After graduation, she considered applying for internships at NPR, but was drawn back to science.  She worked at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester as a graduate researcher with a focus on paragangliomas before beginning medical school at the University of Minnesota. She has continued to be passionate about arts and medicine, and with COVID19 created and organized a virtual elective course for medical students called “Pandemics and Film”. In recognition of her outstanding compassion and clinical skills, she was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society.  In addition, she is a prize-winning pie baker, speaks Serbian, and enjoys writing essays and short stories.