'I’m one of the only people in the world to see this'

QUEENSBURY, New York (Feb. 11, 2025) — When Nathan Pallace speaks at 4 p.m. Feb. 24 at SUNY Adirondack about his decidedly uncommon and interesting career, it will be a full-circle moment for the Class of 2003 alum.

Pallace is a medical photographer for the Mayo Clinic, chronicling procedures that help educate doctors around the world. The international award-winning photographer’s images provide insight into rare operations that help prepare doctors for critical surgeries.

But Pallace didn’t always understand the value of education.

“In high school, I wasn’t a very good student,” Pallace said, explaining how after graduating from Saratoga Springs High School, he pursued music as a drummer in a band that experienced some success in New York City in the 1990s.

As his 20s came and went, and his bandmates got day jobs, he realized his dreams of living a rock star life might not last.  

“Education seemed like the obvious solution,” Pallace said. “I got my footing at [SUNY Adirondack]. All of a sudden, I just immersed myself and really appreciated education for the first time.”

Pallace graduated from SUNY Adirondack, then spent several years as a photojournalist for The Post-Star in Glens Falls. As the newspaper industry declined, Pallace knew education was again the answer, so he enrolled in Rochester Institute of Technology’s photography program, from which he earned a bachelor’s degree.

While a student at RIT, Pallace studied life science-based imagery and took a surgical photography course. That led to a position at a hospital in the United Kingdom, then contract work for Rochester General Hospital and, eventually, his job at the Mayo Clinic.

At SUNY Adirondack, Pallace will discuss his career amid “Images from Science 3,” an exhibition of scientific images organized by RIT that will be displayed in the Visual Arts Gallery through April 17.

“I’m one of the only people in the world to see this kind of stuff,” Pallace said.

The event is free and open to the public. SUNY Adirondack’s Visual Arts Gallery is in Dearlove Hall on the college’s Queensbury campus.

Read Pallace’s story in Community Roots, SUNY Adirondack’s quarterly alumni magazine, at https://issuu.com/suny_adk/docs/alumnicollectivemarch2021/24.