re: Dream profession growing up versus what you do now. Any regrets?

Dream job: paleontologist or archaeologist

I was actually involved in archaeology for a brief period. I went to an archaeological field school in Syria several years before the civil war began. My first job out of college was for an environmental and cultural resources management consulting firm based on the Gulf Coast. I did archaeological surveys for them for a little while before the recession hit and project money dried up, then decided I needed to change careers.

Went back to school, got two more degrees, now work in the physics group of an oncology department in NYC.

No regrets! Followed my dream, realized it wasn't for me, followed my other passions (science and medicine), and it worked out!