Commander Katherine Pulaski, MD, was chief medical officer aboard the USS Enterprise-D in 2365 while Dr. Beverly Crusher was serving as head of Starfleet Medical.

Early career

Pulaski was part of the rescue team responding to a Tholian attack on a Federation starbase in 2353. There was only one survivor, Kyle Riker, and it was at this time the two met.

Prior to her posting to the Enterprise, Pulaski served as chief medical officer on the USS Repulse under the command of Captain Taggert.

Like her predecessor eighty years before, Dr. Pulaski had a transporter phobia. She rarely used the transporter while posted to that vessel, preferring to use shuttlecraft whenever possible.

Taggert was fond of Pulaski, and said he would have given her a personal shuttlecraft if she had agreed to remain aboard the Repulse.

Medical research

Early in her career, Pulaski authored a groundbreaking research paper called "Linear Models of Viral Propagation". It was still the standard on the subject many years later. She also performed two successful operations involving the ocular implants. She offered the procedure to Lieutenant Geordi La Forge in 2365, although he turned down the opportunity.

She had an expertise in heart surgery, and when Picard initially tried to refuse her medical order to proceed to Starbase 515 for a cardiac replacement surgery, she said then that she and her staff would be able to perform the surgery on Enterprise. He refused because of his pride, saying it would be inappropriate for Pulaski to do so. Picard eventually did accompany Wesley Crusher to the starbase for the op but circumstances dictated otherwise and she and her team did do the op.

Dr. Pulaski pioneered a technique used to selectively wipe memory engrams from humanoid species, one that Dr. Beverly Crusher was familiar with.

Pulaski believed that traditional remedies were just as valuable as technological ones, perhaps even more so. When the Enterprise was affected by an Iconian software transmission, she instructed her staff to use splints and other primitive treatments while most of the ship's systems were down.