I need some advice on GMing soon. I GM'd short things before,

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I need some advice on GMing soon.

I GM'd short things before, but our current awful GM is finally quitting soon and I'm the only one who will take over. My stuff I ran before was well received so I'm not too worried, but there are a couple of things I'm stuck on with one of the players.

This player gets OOC nervous when making decisions IC, leading him to frequent inaction or poor decisions. For a long time he basically didn't take part in combat because he was scared. He talked like it was in character, but you could hear him wheezing and panting over the mic (he's a landwhale) as he paced around and got REALLY defensive about it whenever it was brought up. He also admitted to it (somewhat) later. Any advice for this? Do I baby him, or do I force shit on him so he grows a spine? I know it's his fault, but with me becoming GM is there something I can do to help?

The other problem is one that applies to anybody, but mostly the above guy in my case, is the difference between IC and OOC intelligence. Just like you don't need to be ripped to make a high STR character, you don't need to be a genius to make a high INT character. But this guy is currently playing a medic but doesn't even know what blood pressure is. All medical shit has devolved into him rolling and just asking the GM what he does. All treatment is just 'what's the problem' and rolling dice while saying 'I fix it' or 'I do that' once the GM has just described the treatment. How do I help someone along when they're playing a character they can't RP? Do I describe his surgery for him? He's about to hit wizardhood IRL, lives with his parents, and has no education beyond high school, so he literally lacks even basic knowledge of the world on many levels.

The guy's alright, so I don't really want to lose him, but his lack of creativity makes doing anything hard. I genuinely want to help.