Tullos bridges ‘Indiana Jones,’ science career, guiding principles in ‘Last Lecture’

Tullos bridges 'Indiana Jones,' science career, guiding principles in 'Last Lecture'

With humor and energy, Dr. Nathan Tullos engages the audience during UMMC's Last Lecture, blending personal stories with lessons on purpose and perseverance.

Inspired at age 7 by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to become a future professor, Dr. Nathan Tullos told a packed audience at the University of Mississippi Medical Center's 10th anniversary of the Last Lecture that his early dreams of archaeology - and later paleontology, sparked by Jurassic Park - faded as he recognized Hollywood's exaggerated version of adventure. Today, however, he is living out a different kind of scientific dream as an associate professor in UMMC's Department of Advanced Biomedical Education.

"What kind of little nerd wants to be a professor at age 7?" he asked rhetorically on March 23, inside the research amphitheater.

The answers were Hollywood, and traveling seasonally with his grandfather and grandmother, Larry and Koleen Batman. They lived in Minnesota during the summers and Florida during the winters, traveling with a suitcase of VHS tapes, including those two favorite science movies about treasures, heroics and dinosaurs.

Tullos calls the Last Lecture an important part of tradition that "gives us a chance to remember" much like the annual rhythm of welcoming students, sending them out, white coat ceremonies and honors day.

Tullos, of Clinton, Mississippi, earned his PhD in microbiology and an MS in biomedical sciences from the University of Mississippi Medical Center, after completing both bachelor and master degrees in biology at Mississippi College.

He joked - liked his keynote predecessors - that the Last Lecture was not his last. Like them, he, too, would deliver another one at 1 p.m. His talk would be about parasites of the GI tract, and he invited the entire audience to attend that adventure.

The "Last Lecture" is a long-standing tradition at many universities, built around a simple question: What wisdom would you share if this were your final chance to speak? The concept gained worldwide attention in 2007 through Dr. Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University professor who delivered his lecture, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," while facing a terminal illness. Pausch's deeply personal and humorous reflection on living well became a global phenomenon and a New York Times bestseller.

Tullos' most beloved guest was his wife, Dr. Melissa Tullos, celebrating her birthday. He described the mother of their three children as his "most faithful friend, my most reliable confidante. I wouldn't be here without her because she helped put me through grad school." Others in attendance included his father and mother, Mike and Julie Tullos, fellow course directors, and many current and former faculty and students.

A man who considers himself a jack of all trades (blacksmithing, cheese-making, camping, knife-making, coffee roasting and gardening) revealed another defining aspect of his life. He has served as pastor of Traceway Baptist Church in Clinton since 2013.

So, what if this really had been his last lecture?

"If I thought I would never see any of you ever again, we would be having a different conversation," he said. "We would be talking about the things that matter most to me - my faith, my hope in redemption, my hope in the bodily resurrection."

Then, gently shifting back to the audience and the occasion, he added:

"But you didn't come to hear a sermon, and I'm not going to preach on that. So, we're going to do four principles instead."

He named them simply: Gratitude. Humility. Passion. Hope.

Tullos explained that his sense of gratitude is rooted in the people and moments that shaped his life - often in ways that only became clear in hindsight.

One of those defining moments came in the 11th grade.

He took a microbiology class and later read two books by Richard Preston - The Hot Zone, detailing Ebola outbreaks, and The Cobra Event, a fictional account of bioterrorism. Together, they sparked what he described as a moment of clarity.

"I will be a microbiologist," he said. "This is what I want."

What followed, however, was not just personal ambition - but support.

His parents, both alumni of Mississippi College, took him to meet with the dean of admissions. The dean asked a simple question: "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"I want to be a microbiology professor," Tullos replied.

The dean answered candidly: "Well, we don't do that, but we can get you ready."

It was there that he met Melissa Roberts, his future wife.

"I fell desperately in love with her," he said, blushing. "And I said, 'I've got to get this woman to marry me, so I need a job.' "

The room laughed, but the sentiment was unmistakable. His future - both personal and professional - was beginning to take shape.

That path, however, was not without defining moments.

After earning his master's degree in biology and education and obtaining his teaching license, Tullos entered the classroom as a middle school science teacher.

It did not go as planned. He described it as a "disastrous year" - a 188-day contract that felt much longer. "On Day 5," he recalled, "I sat in my pickup truck thinking … 183 more days."

The audience roared, recognizing that some things are not quite what you expected. And yet, even that disappointing season shaped the foundation for what followed. Still, he returned to the theme that anchored his story: Gratitude.

That gratitude carried forward when he reached out to UMMC's Department of Microbiology.

He spoke with Dr. Eva Bengten, who was program director at the time. Although the program planned to admit only three PhD students, she advocated on his behalf.

Her efforts opened the door - and the willingness of Dr. Joey Granger, former dean of the School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences, to take an additional student. That goodwill, Tullos said, "changed everything."

It placed him in an environment rich with mentorship and intellectual challenge. He trained alongside faculty he described as "fantastic," including, Dr. Mary Marquart, Dr. Greg Chinchar, Dr. Ashley Robinson, Dr. Richard O'Callaghan, Dr. Melanie Wilson, Dr. Bill Lushbaugh, Dr. Mike Lundrigan, Dr. Larry McDaniel and Dr. Stephen Stray - himself a recent "Last Lecture" speaker.

These experiences formed the backbone of what Tullos meant by gratitude. He recognized that where he stood now was the result of countless people who carried him forward.

Next, Tullos transitioned into his other principle - humility, as he realized that none of his steps were taken alone, and it shaped how he moved forward.

"There is an endogenous pathway to humility and an exogenous pathway."

If one is wise, he said, humility is learned internally - through reflection and self-awareness.

"I have often learned it the other way."

Dr. Tullos gleefully connects with medical student Aiden Leise after his Last Lecture, extending the conversation beyond the lectern.

What followed was a pattern he recognized throughout his career: When he began to feel confident, something new would arise that forced him to begin again.

That pattern continued during his postdoctoral work at UMMC under Dr. Alejandro Chade in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics. Though trained as a microbiologist, Tullos entered a new discipline - renal physiology - where he quickly realized how much he did not know.

He described sitting in rooms surrounded by accomplished scientists - people whose names appeared in the very textbooks he was studying.

"You read, 'In 1982 we did this experiment …' " he said, "and the person who did that experiment is sitting across the table from you."

He said the experience was humbling and exhilarating. "And I loved it."

Humility, he explained, does something essential. It shifts your focus away from yourself and makes you teachable.

"If nothing else," he said, "I hope my career has taught me compassion for students."

From humility, Tullos transitioned naturally into passion.

"I love what I do," he said.

Whether teaching microbiology, anatomy or a course he had just been assigned weeks before the semester began, he approached each opportunity with the same mindset.

Tullos explained that every lecture he gives is guided by one personal standard: amazement.

"A lecture is not done until I find the thing that amazes me."

He called it the "nucleus of wonder," whether studying parasites with astonishing life cycles or exploring the complexities of human physiology.

"If I'm bored," he said, "the students have no chance."

From passion, Tullos moved into his final principle: hope.

"Teaching," he said, "is a blind business." It is blind because its results are rarely immediate or fully visible.

After delivering his Last Lecture, Dr. Nathan Tullos celebrates with student leaders from the Associated Student Body and Student Alumni Representatives who chose him as keynote speaker.

He said students forget details, concepts fade and time moves forward.

Tullos reminded the audience that instructors may never see the full impact of what they have done, such as when an M1 medical student becomes a resident or a graduate student becomes a scientist. It may be impossible to trace, but that does not mean it isn't there, he said.

"We impact each other," he said, "and we don't even know it."

That truth extends beyond classrooms.

He pointed to his own family as an example. His maternal and paternal grandparents were first-generation college students. They set in motion opportunities that would extend far beyond what they could have imagined. "They raised their children to care deeply about education," Tullos said. "My mother's a teacher; my sister's a teacher; my wife's a teacher; and my grandmother was a teacher."

He added: "They didn't know that it would lead to this."

And yet, it did.

Rhymes

After Tullos completed his lecture, DeArrius "Dee" Rhymes, a student alumni representative and vice president of the Associated Student Body, said he left feeling both enlightened and encouraged after hearing his professor's story. He described Tullos as "impactful" and deeply passionate about his students, which is why STARS and ASB selected him to be the keynote.

"His four main points made me reflect on whether I'm being humble, passionate and hopeful as a third-year medical student, said Rhymes, a native of Hazlehurst, Mississippi.

After most of the audience had dispersed, Tullos reflected quietly on the experience.

"I think it went well," he said. "When you're teaching, you never really know what's connecting with students and what's not. But I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity to teach them. I love doing it. I love getting up in the morning. I love teaching and seeing them make those connections."