Joshua Norton

Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering, Purdue University-Main Campus

Joshua Norton grew up in Seymour, Connecticut, and earned his Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Purdue University.

At Purdue, Joshua blended technical rigor with leadership and service. He conducted cardiovascular flow modeling research, served as a teaching assistant, and performed for five years with the Purdue “All‑American” Marching Band. He was also a member of Kappa Kappa Psi, a national honorary band fraternity, and Pi Kappa Phi, where he supported philanthropic efforts for individuals with disabilities through The Ability Experience.

Joshua’s path to medicine was shaped by personal experience—he has undergone three open-heart surgeries due to a rare connective tissue mutation in the Filamin A (FLNA) gene, a condition that is typically lethal to males. Motivated to give back to the field that saved his life, he worked as a machine learning and medical device engineer at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. There, he co-developed an acoustic-ultrasound wearable and a machine learning algorithm for early detection of prosthetic implant failure. The prototype earned first place in the Biomedical Engineering Society’s national student design competition, and the work was later published in Nature Scientific Reports, which he co-authored.

Joshua is deeply passionate about sharing his journey to foster empathy in medicine. He appeared on ProgressNote, a popular medical podcast, in the episode “From Heart Surgery Patient to Prospective Medical Student,” where he reflected on his experiences as both a patient and aspiring physician and the importance of designing healthcare around the individual.

Joshua chose EnMed because it empowers him to build a future where he not only treats patients but also creates the very tools that heal them. He is especially interested in pediatric cardiology, congenital heart surgery, and aerospace medicine, and aims to design innovations that improve care for children facing complex diagnoses.

Outside of academics, Joshua enjoys slacklining, hiking, chess, playing saxophone, and spending time with his loved ones. He finds joy in mentoring others and hopes to use his journey to remind patients that healing is possible—and every heartbeat is a gift.