The primary doctor. It is such a rewarding career for the right person. It certainly has been rewarding for me." Searching for a medical school? Get our complete rankings of Best Medical Schools.

Because viruses mutate, knowledge about how they behave may become outdated, so it's important for a doctor in this specialty to remain on the cutting edge of what science reveals, Flick explains.

Those interests led her to a family friend who was a cardiologist who pointed Taghehchian toward becoming a physician assistant as a medical career. Taghechian, a Lafayette native, applied for ...