Lieutenant Sydney Palmieri
Name Sydney Paige Palmieri M.D., Ph.D.
Position Chief Medical Officer
Second Position Medic
Rank Lieutenant
Character Information
| Gender | Female | |
| Species | Human | |
| Age | 35 |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 5'6" | |
| Weight | 120 lbs. | |
| Hair Color | Dark Brown | |
| Eye Color | Brown | |
| Physical Description | She has a tattoo of a butterfly on her left shoulder blade. |
Family
| Spouse | None | |
| Children | None | |
| Father | Victor Palmieri | |
| Mother | Maria Palmieri | |
| Brother(s) | None | |
| Sister(s) | None | |
| Other Family | None |
Personality
| General Overview | Sydney prides herself on being a down to earth and friendly young woman who is not at all like the person her background might suggest. She’s never completely gotten over the insecurities she felt in childhood, but that’s something she’ll admit freely. She’s always been a hard worker, but it’s only recently that she’s blossomed and found she’s truly passionate about her recent career choices. |
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| Ambitions | Sydney’s greatest ambition is to be a wife and mother some day. | |
| Hobbies & Interests | Although outwardly she is very feminine (thanks to years of “good breeding”), deep down, she’s a bit of a tomboy and enjoys all sorts of sports. She likes to use this to her advantage, as most people don’t expect it based on her appearance and demeanor. Sydney also makes a point to keep abreast of the latest research concerning emergency medicine and psychiatry. |
Traits & Skills
| Strengths & Weaknesses | Her relationship with her parents is more strained, thanks to a secret Sydney discovered while researching her own medical history. She told no one of her discovery, and she is not sure she ever will, believing it would do no one any good after so much time has passed. The discovery helped to explain why she has always felt like an outsider, and she has been able to move on to a degree, but she is still uneasy. Her parents, when they bother to notice the distance between them, chalk it up to disinterest and a desire for independence. She’s a straight-forward, no-nonsense woman, and her compassion for people can sometimes blind her to the harsh realities of her job. However, these qualities have also helped her earn the respect of others. Sydney doesn’t like to talk of her family, but she will, if asked. |
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| Skill 1 | Medicine | |
| Skill 2 | Social Studies |
Personal History
| Personal History | As far as Sydney Paige knew, she was born to Victor, an advertising executive, and Maria, a real estate agent. Both parents said they grew up in blue collar families in New York City, but the only thing she was told was they left as soon as they turned eighteen to pursue better lives for themselves in California. Sydney would come to learn pursuing a better life, to them, actually meant pursuing wealth and prestige, and renouncing the Italian Catholic values they had grown up with. She knows very little about her extended family even today, something that bothers her tremendously. As an only child, Sydney wanted for nothing growing up. She attended the best schools and hung out with kids from the most elite social circles. Her parents loved doting on her and showing her off, and outwardly, Sydney was the perfect daughter: intelligent, cultured, and confident. Inwardly, however, Sydney felt awkward and shy. While her tall, blonde, and tanned classmates participated in pageants and cotillions, short, dark-haired, paler Sydney was more of a tomboy, preferring basketball and reading. Compounding her uneasiness was the fact that her parents were almost always too busy working to spend time with her. Left to her own devices much of the time, she tried to rebel the way she had seen her peers rebel, but skipping school, smoking, and drinking were not really her thing, and she imitated her classmates simply to fit in. Unfortunately, her peers sensed this uneasiness and her awkwardness, and she was never really accepted, truly. Sydney’s feelings of isolation and feeling out of place ultimately sparked her interest in the causes of illness and abnormal behavior in others. Having never felt she belonged at home and wanting to pursue the best and most diverse education possible, Sydney was determined to earn her way into Starfleet. She found a measure of peace when she decided to pursue dual specialties in emergency medicine and psychiatry because it was an opportunity to challenge her intellect while also helping people heal body and mind. Sydney understood sudden trauma to the body frequently creates psychological upsets and vice versa. As much as Sydney tried to keep herself emotionally detached as a means to cope with her lonely childhood, however, it was her maternal and empathetic nature that fueled her desire to help people heal as a doctor and mental health professional. Her parents were, at best, ambivalent about her interests. They wanted a simpler life on Earth for their daughter and they didn’t entirely understand what Starfleet service was all about, but they loved their daughter and wanted to be supportive in the ways they could. She graduated the Pacific Hills Middle School/High School summa cum laude and immediately entered Starfleet Academy, followed by Starfleet Medical Academy. Her parents hated the fact she wanted to leave her homeworld, a sentiment that has caused some tension to this day. Sydney was pleased to find diversity and open-mindedness at the Academies and she thrived. Not only was her slightly more introverted nature not cause for alarm there, she was able to connect with others who supported her desire to pursue two separate, but interconnected paths to becoming a healer. Her training helped her become a skilled crisis manager with a diverse skillset for any number of Starfleet postings. The naturally empathetic Sydney was particularly interested in helping survivors of psychological trauma, and while not an immediately desirable internship placement, she soon found herself working with those incarcerated in the Federation correctional system, where there was certainly no shortage of trauma survivors in need of mental health treatment. Naturally, this experience also exposed Palmieri to the complexities of the criminal mind and criminal behavior, and she soon found herself wanting to learn and do more in that vein. To that end, she completed a Ph.D. in forensic psychology, where she not only expanded her clinical knowledge and experience regarding crisis response and therapeutic assessment and treatment, but she also learned the skills necessary for psychological profiling, developing psychological autopsies, conducting interviews and interrogations, and assessing the psychological competency of individuals as it related to the legal process. Upon graduation, she was offered a posting as a staff medical officer/counselor aboard the USS Exeter. After proving herself to be a capable and reliable officer there, she was offered the Chief Counselor position aboard the USS Pasteur, a medical vessel with a mobile trauma team frequently called upon to assist in mass emergencies. When the Pasteur was recalled for a long-term refit, Sydney took a position with the Starfleet Criminal Investigative Service, where she served as a consultant on psychological trauma and injuries caused by violence. She continued to move up the ranks within the SFCIS and earned praise for her collaborative efforts during investigations aboard frontline ships and stations. Sydney enjoyed the change of pace, but eventually missed the action that came with responding to front line crises. When she learned of the opening aboard the USS Argonaut, a rapid response vessel, she decided to apply and was accepted as a member of the ship’s medical department with a secondary assignment to assist the mental health staff as needed. Six months into her posting, the ship was called to rescue a crew trapped in a nebula where sensors were of little help. They managed to save the crew but not without considerable cost to the ship and crew. Sydney expected to be given a temporary assignment while the Argonaut was being repaired and was surprised to learn she was being reassigned to the USS Virgil, a vessel dedicated to emergency response and to addressing the threat posed by the Sojourner remnant. Sydney was seen as an ideal choice for the crew and its Hazard Team given her dual medical and mental health training and her familiarity with crisis response and forensic psychology. |
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| Service Record | 2375 – 2379: Starfleet Academy, San Francisco Campus 2379 – 2383: Starfleet Medical Academy 2383 – 2385: Starfleet Medical Residency (Emergency Medicine and Psychiatry) 2385 – 2387: Earned Ph.D. in Forensic Psychology 2387 – 2388: Staff Medical Officer/Psychiatrist, USS Exeter 2388 – 2390: Chief Counselor, USS Pasteur 2390 – 2392: Medical/Psychiatric Consultant, SFCIS 2392 - 2392: Medical Officer/Counseling Officer, USS Argonaut Present: Chief Medical/Counseling Officer, USS Virgil |