I'm a third-year resident in Internal Medicine and Preventive Medicine in San Francisco. I got my M.D. at the University of Michigan (Go Blue!), and I'm an eternal idealist. My ambition? Seeking ways to fundamentally boost health.
Illness isn't just caused by being overweight, smoking or having the flu virus. Health is powerfully linked to environment; there is a crucial link between the structure of society and a person's chance of disease. After all, there's something tragically unhealthy about a mostly-Black county having a life expectancy a quarter-century below that of an affluent community 20 miles away.
What causes this vast gap? The answer hints at a root cause of illness, and fixing it is the key to health. This goal brings me to public health, and it's my calling as a physician.
Luckily, this year I'm at Berkeley - the perfect place to understand the connection between society and health.
As I learn new keys to health - some minor, some quirky, some likely monumental – I’ll share them here. Right now, there are many "unhealthy" realities that lie only on the fringes of public awareness. That's a problem: it's impossible to care when you don't know something is wrong. Positive, healthy change depends on getting communities to care - and hope, to become inspired to fix what's unhealthy.
So here's the invitation to sit back, read and seek health.
