Exploring Anatomy and Art with CAS Student Daelah Nicholas

Daelah’s artistic journey began in childhood, as she drew comics and developed her skills through daily sketching. Captivated by the nuances of human expression, she discovered a passion for portraiture in middle school.

“Around that time I started getting into making portraits. I would draw or paint people I saw in magazines or on Pinterest,” she explains. “Art means a lot to me because I’m able to take emotions that are hard to express in words and use the human face to show them instead.”

When she arrived at NYU, she was ready to incorporate art into her academic practice and routine. As a first-year student, Daelah made artwork for the undergraduate neuroscience journal Grey Matters, and as a sophomore she created cover art for NYU’s Medical Dialogue Review. Her art explores nature, medicine, and the potential of the human body.

“In terms of specific mediums, I mostly use pens, markers, and paper. Sometimes I’ll paint if I have enough time. I also like to do digital art on my laptop and draw online with my friends,” Daelah says.

The disciplines of art and science encourage Daelah’s imagination in mutually beneficial ways. “Art fosters my scientific ability and science inspires my artistic abilities. When I get tired of one, I work on the other,” she explains.

While she practiced her art, she made time for a number of research experiences. As a junior, Daelah worked in two separate labs—one focused on child and adolescent mental health at NYU Langone Health and one based at Mount Sinai Hospital.

To manage her demanding schedule, Daelah relies on organization. She treats her lab work like another academic course, and her dedicated study time is followed by a block in her calendar reserved for artistic expression and personal reflection in her daily junk journal. This journal forms a unique record of her college experiences, where sketches, paintings, photographs, and ephemera capture her learning, observations, and emotions. It’s another place her scientific curiosity and artistic sensibility intertwine.

“I like to say it’s a visual or graphic retelling of my life. It combines my interests in science and art by recording detailed observations and art over time,” she explains.

Ultimately, Daelah plans to explore a career in either gastroenterology or maternal–fetal medicine. She wants to focus on interventions for healthy prenatal neural development as well as preventative and emergency measures for high-risk pregnancies. Of course, she also intends to keep art in her life moving forward.

“I love integrating art into my personal life and plan to fit it into my future career,” she says. “I’m interested in a career in medicine, and art can definitely help with healing. I’d like to get involved with art therapy or working with kids and doing art with them.”