Dima Elissa
VisMed•3D
Chicago, IL USA
"You can follow traditional routes and you’ll get traditional responses. Or, you can be bold, brave, and brilliant. You determine your own destiny."
Career Roadmap
Dima's work combines: Medicine, Technology, and Building Things
See more careers and stories that connect to your interests.
Take Roadmap Quiz
Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
There was an expectation that I would follow in my father's footsteps, but I knew that wasn't what I wanted. I didn't want to work in medicine or be a chemist. I got an opportunity to travel after college and find myself. I knew my future was out there somewhere, so I left home and I never looked back.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Chemistry, General
Hanover College
Graduate Degree
Business Administration and Management, General
Texas A & M University-College Station
Here's the path I recommend for someone who wants to be a Bioengineers & Biomedical Engineers:
High School
Bachelor's Degree: Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering
Graduate Degree: Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering
Doctorate: Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering
Learn more about different paths to this career
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
Was born in Beirut and grew up in rural Indiana; her father was a surgeon and both of her parents were very strict and disciplined.
2.
She got a degree in chemistry from Hanover College, a small school in Indiana.
3.
After graduating early, she told her parents she was going on a road trip to attend a friend’s wedding.
4.
Instead, she ran away to Chicago, where she hoped she’d find a community that would be more accepting of her sexual identity.
5.
Says she grew her greatest strength from forcing herself into that position, where she had no one to rely upon except herself.
6.
Once she’d settled in Chicago, she decided she really wanted to work at NutraSweet, a large chemical company that produces artificial sweeteners.
7.
She decided to send a job application not only to human resources, but also to NutraSweet’s vice president, who ultimately hired her.
8.
She’s since pivoted into 3D printing, which she believes will “shape and reimagine our futures”; she’s the founder and CEO of VisMed-3D, a biomedical 3D printing company.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Family:
Why don't you just become a cardiovascular surgeon like your father?
How I responded:
There was an expectation that I would follow in my father's footsteps, but I knew that wasn't what I wanted. I didn't want to work in medicine or be a chemist. I got an opportunity to travel after college and find myself. I knew my future was out there somewhere, so I left home and I never looked back.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
Being part of the LGBT community when I was young was very challenging, and for my mother, it was that there was no such thing in our culture. I ran away to Chicago to find an accepting community.
I was born in Beirut and grew up in rural Indiana.