Ross Ramos:  

Life Many different jobs and lots of school (grocery clerk, sausage maker, custodian, ironworker, molecular and microbiologist, general contractor, space biologist, phlebotomist, EMT, ER Tech). I have two teenage boys who live with me, but I never married. After completing my Ph.D., I had two horrid post-doctoral positions before I landed a dream job when NASA recruited me to serve as a Senior Scientist for the International Space Station. I worked there for about 5 1/2 years until Bush decided to cancel funding for the Station and 1200 of us were laid off. I found it impossible to get a job in science. I always had a passion for healthcare and medicine. So, back to school; I became a phlebotomist. I was fortunate that my final phlebotomy field training was in a hospital and not a clinic. Many hospitals have emergency rooms, but few have trauma centers; this one did. I spent some 24 hours there and lightning struck. I realized that aiding/treating the sick and injured, transporting patients comfortably to and from hospitals and homes was where I need to be. Back to school AGAIN and I completed certification as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). I love driving ambulances and the adrenaline rush that emergency medicine gives me!! Since then, I took a position as an Emergency Department Technician II at Kaiser Walnut Creek and just recently was hired for a second ER Tech position at Summit Hospital. I was accepted into Samuel Merritt University's RN BSN program, finishing in 2011 and became an RN. Eventually I was recruited by the Kaiser Santa Clara ER as Clinical Nurse Educator. After years in the ER, it was time to move on. I became a psychiatric nurse and treated mental health patients in an outpatient clinic. I eventually decided I wanted to return to my roots. I moved back to Pinole and got a position as a District School Nurse for the West Contra Costa Unified S...Expand for more