Student Testimonial: Niela Kleinsmith
Online Master’s Degree in Medical Physiology and Aging
“My medical knowledge and medical research skills have grown exponentially through this master’s program,” she said. “Since I will be advising a congressperson on health policy, I feel prepared to analyze whether a health proposal makes sense medically, or whether scientific research doesn’t uphold it.”
Niela Kleinsmith has been busy. She’s earning a Master of Science in Medical Physiology and Aging from the University of Florida, and this fall, she wraps up the UF Health Cancer Institute’s Public Service Fellowship, a program that puts her in Washington, D.C., advising on federal cancer health policy.
“This is a dream come true for me,” Niela told me. Before she heads to D.C. to help shape healthcare policy, she sat down to talk about UF’s online program and how it got her here.
How Niela Found Her Way to UF
Niela’s always been drawn to caregiving and patient advocacy. It’s personal. Her mother died young from multiple myeloma, a cancer Niela believes her mother could have beaten if doctors hadn’t brushed off her symptoms as “a normal part of aging.” Around the same time, several other women in her life, including her mother-in-law, died from preventable complications tied to synthetic hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
“It was too much,” she said, “and I felt like I had to do something about it.”
Niela went on to travel abroad and work for the Erasmus University Rotterdam School of Business, contributing to publications — like this one — that advocate for wellness. Then she started investigating healthcare from a business angle, digging into what shapes public and private health systems across countries, what drives costs up and where patients actually fit into it all — all while moving closer to her goal of influencing healthcare policy
“By this time, I knew about medicine from a patient, caregiver and a business perspective,” Niela said. “I saw a lot of things that needed changing.”
Why UF?
A few things sold Niela on the program. For one, it’s offered through the College of Medicine, which carries credibility. But the real deciding factor? It’s entirely online.
Online Learning: In Her Words, a “Godsend”
Niela’s husband travels often for work, which leaves her with the kids and not much spare time. Online learning lets her earn her degree without blowing up her family’s routine.
“You work through a class on your schedule, when you have free time, which is generally evenings, weekends or free hours in the day,” she explained. “What you put in is what you get out of it, like all classes, I suppose. But it feels like there’s even more flexibility here.”
Weekly discussion boards and deadlines keep things on track, but students move at their own pace. Many students, Niela included, thrive in this setup.
Niela was quick to reiterate that online programs like UF’s MS in medical physiology and aging are ideal for people with time constraints who have the motivation to keep learning. “I’m very grateful that an outstanding university like UF has such online programs available!” she said. “There is a definite need for such programs.”
Distance Doesn’t Mean Disconnected
Despite the distance, Niela never felt disconnected. “I feel as included as I possibly can, even if I’m not present on campus,” she said. She’s attended live-streamed College of Medicine seminars, has access to library, counseling and career services — and, as she recently discovered, qualified for fellowship programs.
What’s Actually Inside the Program
This online master’s program blends UF’s Graduate Certificate in Medical Physiology with its Master of Science in Innovative Aging Studies, and it digs into how the body’s systems change over time.
“I didn’t know what to expect when I first started, but the medical physiology and aging program is a great mix of both hard science courses and research- and discussion-based courses,” Niela said. “It’s balanced, which I love!” Along the way, she and her classmates build real expertise in:
- Aging
- Healthy longevity
- Gerontology
- The physiological changes tied to aging
“[T]his program has truly honed my skills in medical research,” she added. “I’ve learned so much from digging into homework and discussion questions — not just on my own, but also, from classmates as well.”
The Courses That Stuck With Her
Geriatric and Age-Related Diseases — a 3-credit course on caring for older adults and the health issues that hit their quality of life hardest — was Niela’s favorite.
The course’s introduction to polypharmacy (the use of multiple prescription drugs at the same time) grabbed her attention early:
“You have a lot of older people who are taking 10, 12 prescription medications a day, and the doctors who are prescribing these pills are not aware of what other doctors are prescribing,” she said. “And so you get medications that overlap, you get dosages that are completely false, you get medications that should not be taken together and that are harmful.”
Geriatric and Age-Related Diseases was one of her first courses in the program, and it set the tone for what good geriatric care actually looks like.
Niela was also a big fan of Clinical Neuroscience of Aging, a 3-credit course that looks inside the aging brain: how memory, cognition and the nervous system shift over time, and what that means for real-world clinical care. She particularly enjoyed learning about how different parts of the brain work together to take care of basic processes we often take for granted, such as understanding and speaking language.
“We also studied […] sex-specific differences in dementia and Alzheimer’s,” she added, noting that nearly two-thirds of people living with Alzheimer’s disease are women. “So much neat stuff to know!”
Now Comes the Fellowship
The Public Service Fellowship will put everything Niela learned in the program to work as she advocates for aging patients directly.
“My medical knowledge and medical research skills have grown exponentially through this master’s program,” she said. “Since I will be advising a congressperson on health policy, I feel prepared to analyze whether a health proposal makes sense medically, or whether scientific research doesn’t uphold it.”
“I also feel capable of making some evidence-based proposals of my own,” she added with excitement in her voice. She described the healthcare system she wants to see as one filled with “angels who carry the sick … and treat them and make them feel good and joyful and purposeful.” Healthcare’s often far from that vision. But people like Niela are closing the gap.
Niela’s Final Thoughts on the Physiology and Aging Program
“This is by far the best online medical master’s program I’ve found,” Niela said. “You have time to complete the program at your own pace, so you can initially take just one course (like I did) to see if you like it and can manage it first, before jumping in with more.”
She recommends this program to anyone serious about medical studies, genuinely interested in aging populations and juggling too much to sit in a classroom.
Sound like you? Visit our program page to see what our MS in physiology and aging can do for you. Start with one course, like Niela did — or go all in and finish in as little as a year.
Whatever pace you take, you’ll walk away with real foundational knowledge in medicine and aging. And like Niela, you might just find a door you didn’t know was there.
