NEW YORK, N.Y. — Nathan P. Douglass of Auburn was awarded an M.D. degree from Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons on May 18.

Douglass was valedictorian of the class of 2002 at Edward Little High School and received his B.S. degrees in biology and chemical engineering, a double major, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., in June 2006. After graduating from MIT, he performed research for a year at the Department of Neurosurgery at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, focusing primarily upon Parkinson’s disease.

While at Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons, Douglass participated in a study at the Department of Neurosurgery on outcomes for patients undergoing ventriculoperitoneal shunt placement and was the co-author on a presentation at the 2009 Congress of Neurological Surgeons. He also performed research into elbow contractures at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. Between his first and second years of medical school, Douglass assisted at rural medical clinics in Costa Rica. While at Columbia, he was a member of the Rugby Team and Free Weight Club.

Douglass will attend a five year residency program in orthopaedic surgery at the Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto, Calif.

Douglass is the son of Paul and Neria Douglass of 465 West Auburn Road, Auburn, and the grandson of Roland H. Douglass of Auburn, James Ryder of Sierra Vista, Ariz., and Neria Ryder of Tempe, Ariz.