Desire for Patient Connection Inspires Future Doctor’s Spanish Language Journey

By Bethany Bump

ALBANY, N.Y. (May 14, 2025) — When Leann Nicholas was choosing where to attend college, the Long Island high schooler found herself skimming through UAlbany’s track and field record book.

An aspiring doctor who had picked up her love for track and field from her mother, Nicholas was interested in UAlbany for its strong pre-med track and Division 1 track and field program. Eager to see the caliber of athletes who had passed through the school, she was skimming through the record book when her mom’s name jumped out at her.

“She actually has our old facility record here,” Nicholas said. “Facility records can be placed by anyone who does a performance at the facility, and while she was going to St. John’s University, she came here and set the triple jump facility record. I was like, mom, what are you doing in my school’s record book?”

That record was set in 1996 and the facility has since been replaced, meaning no one can break her mother’s record. Little did either of them know, Nicholas would go on to set a facility record of her own at UAlbany’s new track and field complex 27 years later for the women’s triple jump.

It was one of many crowning achievements for the UAlbany track and field captain, who is graduating this weekend from UAlbany’s Honors College after majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology and Spanish. Nicholas, who was born in Queens to parents who immigrated from Jamaica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, moved to Farmingdale when she was 5 and grew up knowing she wanted to be a doctor.

“It’s been a constant in my life,” she said. “I’ve always said I wanted to be a doctor. Obviously, I had to do some exploring, so when I got to the age where I could actually immerse myself in those settings, I volunteered at my local hospital.”

Nicholas, who was 15 at the time, would make sure patient rooms were stocked with comfort items, such as pillows, blankets and toiletries. But her favorite part was simply lending an ear to patients when they were at their most vulnerable.

“I remember this one woman who was in a very tumultuous period of her life, and I was about to step out when she asked if I could please just stay and talk to her,” she recalled. “It was instances like that where I was like, OK, I have a purpose in this setting.”

Nicholas got accepted into the Upstate Accelerated Scholars BS/MD Program, which allowed her to apply for a bachelor’s program at UAlbany and medical school at the same time. After UAlbany, she is headed to SUNY Upstate Medical University’s Norton College of Medicine in Syracuse and hopes to one day practice family medicine.

When she first came to UAlbany, Nicholas picked Spanish as her minor because she believed proficiency in a second language would help her career as a doctor in a state as diverse as New York. But she ended up falling in love — not just with the language but the field of sociolinguistics in general — and decided to pursue Spanish as her second major instead.

“I was here to learn the language and not necessarily the academic side of it when I first came in,” she said. “And then I realized it was an entire academic field and I was like, wow, this is interesting, because one of the best things about UAlbany is our professors are pioneers in their field, especially in Spanish sociolinguistics.”

She quickly became fascinated with the ways in which language could connect her to others, and learned from UAlbany experts in linguistics, bilingualism and psychology that people are able to access and express more intense emotions in their native language.

“I want to give the best patient care possible, and there is nothing like speaking to someone in their own language to make them feel comfortable,” she said.

Nicholas took her interest in the interplay between language and medicine a step further and secured her own funding to conduct a research project on Spanish language attitudes in New York state medical settings for her honors thesis. She won the Undergraduate Honors Thesis Award for her work and presented her findings at UAlbany Showcase Day, demonstrating how perceptions, opinions and beliefs about the Spanish language among both providers and patients lead to positive or negative experiences within health care settings.

From the beginning of her time at UAlbany, Nicholas was determined to make the most of her academic and athletic journey.

In addition to her Spanish language research, she participated in the University at Albany Summer Research Program, conducting research on DNA nanotechnology for the Chandrasekaran Lab at the RNA Institute.

She has also demonstrated leadership in campus clubs, extracurriculars and community service, serving as vice president for the Doctors For Hope Executive Board, a tutor for fellow student-athletes and biology students, and volunteered with the Red Cross, Chasing Health and Red Bookshelf, among other organizations.

“I came here to function at the highest academic and athletic capacity that I possibly could,” she said. “And one of the reasons I chose UAlbany is because I could customize my experience to be able to do that in a manageable way.”

She also chose UAlbany because it’s not far from home.

Her parents made frequent appearances at her track meets, and were there to cheer her on when she set the school and facility record for the women’s triple jump on May 7, 2023, for which she was named most outstanding field performer at the America East Conference Championship.

Her claim to citizenship in Jamaica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines has allowed her to pick which country she wants to represent when she competes. While her mother, who was born in Jamaica, got her into track and field, she chose to compete on behalf of Saint Vincent in honor of her Vincentian father, who was always at her track meets.

“It feels like a way to honor my dad,” she said. “And it’s also just a way to put a smaller country on the map.”