Former fighter squadron surgeon Michelle Parsons’ mama, Amanda Marconi, was born in Bologna, Italy. When Amanda was a young girl her family moved to Argentina, then as a young adult Amanda moved to America to attend college in Houston, Texas. There she met her husband Eugene, also an immigrant from Germany, who was working at NASA.

Michelle was born there in Houston, and she and her younger brother Michael moved around with their parents a lot when her father contracted with the military before they landed in South Jersey. Michelle graduated from Jefferson Medical College, then joined the Air Force to continue her residency in trauma medicine. She is one of the first women assigned to a fighter squadron as a flight surgeon.