Lieutenant Commander Irja Niva
Name Irja Niva MD
Position Observer
Rank Lieutenant Commander
Character Information
| Gender | Female | |
| Species | Human | |
| Age | 36 |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 5,2 | |
| Weight | 120 | |
| Hair Color | Pale blonde | |
| Eye Color | Grey | |
| Physical Description | Dr. Irja Niva has pale blond hair, light skin and dark grey eyes above high cheek bones. She has freckles on her nose that becomes more prominent in summer. She is fairly short and slight and used at often having to tilt her head to look up at her patients and colleagues. She has a long scar on her right arm, running from the upper arm across the elbow. |
Family
| Spouse | none | |
| Children | none | |
| Father | Johan Niva, history teacher | |
| Mother | Hilja Niva, biologist | |
| Brother(s) | One older brother, estranged. | |
| Sister(s) | One younger sister, Helmi, with husband and a small son. | |
| Other Family | A number of aunts, uncles and cousins. |
Personality & Traits
| General Overview | She has been working long and hard on her bedside manner. In her professional capacity she exudes an air of calm competence and caring friendliness, she smiles and makes small talk and even cracks a joke or two. This is a side of her that she herself thinks of as her “professional doctor mode”. That is the only side of her that most people ever see. The side of her that she only reveals to a few people often feels like a fraud. Her position at the Versailles is her first time as a chief medical officer and secretly, she wonders if she is really up to the task. But even long before her newest posting she has had the feeling that she is just waiting to make a big mistake that will cost her her career and, more importantly, other people’s lives. Irja does not wear her heart on her sleeve. She is a great friend, as loyal and reliable as they come, but she does not easily let people into her heart. During her brief time at the Versailles, she has formed respectful and friendly professional relationships with other staff, but so far no personal friendships. |
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| Strengths & Weaknesses | Strengths: professional, outspoken, dedicated to her work, loyal to her friends Weaknesses: personally reserved, frequently plagued by self-doubt and secon-guessing herself, not one to easily form friendships, currently going through a period of uncertainty about her life’s choices. |
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| Ambitions | To be the best chief medical officer possible, though she wonders if she might be in over her head. To continue with her medical research as well as her side interest researching traditional medical practices and get to publish a number of articles as well as present them at suitable conferences. To continue her progress with suus mahna and hopefully find a new teacher. |
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| Hobbies & Interests | She has a both professional and personal interest in traditional medicinal practices from various cultures. At her former postings she has been known to experiment with traditional practices in a more controlled setting on herself as well as on long-suffering patients, colleagues and friends alike. (With due regard for safety protocols and full consent, obviously.) She is drafting a couple of papers that she hopes to present at a suitable conference. She has also been experimenting with growing various medicinal plants and has discovered that she enjoys the challenge. She hopes that she might have the chance to use some space on the station to try out hydroponics on a bit of a larger scale. She started out learning aikido, but got the chance to study the Vulcan martial arts suus mahna with a teacher and then switched over. |
History
| Personal History | Dr. Niva comes from a Scandinavian family background. She finished her medical studies as a civilian at a university in London and also practiced as a civilian doctor for a couple of years before applying and becoming accepted to Starfleet Academy. She did want to join Starfleet, but in the past year, she has begun to wonder just how much of that decision was influenced by the fact that her partner at the time was dead-set on a Starfleet career. The strict command chain and the military aspects of Starfleet culture has not come naturally to her. She is an excellent medical officer, and her former commanding officers have given her great recommendations, but her unconventional background for a Starfleet medical officer makes her feel somewhat of an outsider. Less than a year ago, Dr. Irja Niva felt that her life was agreeably on track. She and her fiancé had both got good postings on a fine starship with interesting missions, she as a medical officer, he as a engineer and well on the way of getting a position as chief engineer upon the retirement of his commanding officer in a couple of years. She had a great relationship with her parents and her sister and her family and met them reasonably often, the same with his side of the family. They had good colleagues and friends surrounding them, and plans to have children in the near future. Perhaps their comfortable situation lulled them both into not noticing the growing cracks in their relationship. Their break-up was messy, and full of hurt feelings. She decided that it was impossible to remain working on the same ship afterwards, and applied for transfer. It didn’t hurt that this new posting would be a distinct step upwards in her career as well as a chance to pursue her interests, but her deciding factor in choosing to accept the posting at Starbase Versailles was that it was so far away - even though she misses her regular visits with her parents and her sister. She has lately started to feel like all of her life since going to medical school (which she unquestionably wanted) has been a series of defensive choices, perhaps even choices decided upon because of other people’s wishes. (Right down to her choice of martial arts to pursue.) What does she want to do with the rest of her life? Well aware of the melodramatic tone of the question, Irja is still haunted by her lack of answers. |
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| Medical Record | While on a mission, the shuttle she was travelling in crashed and she was severely injured in her right arm. Her whole elbow was crushed. Although the injury was healed she still has problems from time to time. She took up martial arts as an incentive to keep training and strengthening her muscles to better support her injured elbow. Since the shuttle accident, she has a bit of claustrophobia, but she can usually keep it in check. When working as a civilian doctor she took part in treating a serious outbreak of Catalian fever and she also got infected. She got treatment in time, but since it is impossible to detect Cartalian fever when it is dormant and it is notoriously difficult to cure, it is possible that she might suffer a relapse. |