In his youth, Nick Pliam aspired to become an opera singer or a professional aviator. Though neither happened, he nevertheless remained true to his lifelong passion for both aviation and the performing arts. As a student, he was a supernumerary in the San Francisco Opera, and he became an avid private pilot. Nick first discovered OSF as a college student, when he flew a small plane to Ashland Airport and walked to the Elizabethan Theater to see “As You Like It.” He has been returning regularly ever since. In his day job, Nick leverages a combination of scientific, clinical, entrepreneurial and investment experience to build and support life science companies as a venture capital investor. He has co-founded companies in the drug discovery and medical device areas. Nick earned his undergraduate degree in German Literature from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed year-long studies at Georg August Universität in Göttingen, Germany. He received his MD from Dartmouth Medical School and PhD in Endocrine Physiology from the University of California, San Francisco. Following general surgery residency at UCSF, he completed orthopedic surgical residency at Stanford University. He has served as staff physician in orthopedic surgery at Palo Alto Medical Foundation and Stanford Medical Center. For many years, he worked one day per month at a clinic in Redding, CA, from which he made the short flight to see an OSF play in the evening.