Throw Off the Bowlines

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.     ~Mark Twain

Hello! Thanks for checking out my blog. I have decided to at least briefly chronicle the experiences I have -- and the ideas I run across -- while traveling the world and attending medical school.

I have just finished a busy but excellent year of working at Epic, the electronic health records company based in Madison, Wisconsin. With Epic, I had the opportunity to be immersed in the maddening complexity of digitizing healthcare in our country, flying everywhere around the United States to help physicians, nurses and pharmacists implement our software in oncology departments. It was a neat way to see the country and to gain experience in a field with tremendous potential. Finding ways to make electronic health records both easier to use and more powerful is a tall task, but one that I think will catalyze positive change in 21st century healthcare.

This coming fall, I am thrilled to begin a new chapter at Harvard Medical School. The fascinating students, stimulating environment, and palpable sense of possibility I felt there made it an easy choice. I hope it will be a long, challenging, but rewarding road.

In the meantime, I have set aside three months to travel the world with my college roommate David Matson. At different parts along the way we will also be accompanied by my high school buddy, Tanner, and my girlfriend, Noelle.

From my previous travels, I have been struck not only by how the world and current events are more fascinating afterward, but how the world becomes so much richer and larger to you. Our conception of what the world "is" is totally contained within our brains. Only by exposing ourselves to new people, experiences, places, stories and ideas does our mind's version of the world expand and take shape. We live in a shared physical world, but abide forever in our heads; I believe it's worth investing in our permanent yet changeable homes, filling the interiors of our minds with beautiful sights, thoughts and friends.

I'm so thankful for everything that I have been blessed with in life, and for anything more I might yet get to experience. Setting off on adventure and exploration, I couldn't be happier.