This was my public declaration of priorities for September 2017. Here’s my current one: Now.
Work:
My #1 priority right now is to change the world so that everyone understands – and knows how to access – peer health advice and the power we can draw from communities.
To that end, I’m working with organizations that share a piece of this mission: Cambia Health Solutions, Hope for Henry, Atlas of Caregiving, and HopeLab. I’m also continuing to collect evidence and read as much as I can about this emerging field, such as Susannah Meadows’s book, The Other Side of Impossible (thanks, Burt Rosen, for the intro!)
Reframe Health and I are putting the finishing touches on a video about peer health advice, due out later this fall.
I’m writing a new keynote speech, tapping into my experiences as the CTO at HHS as well as my work as a researcher. The through line of my career turns out to be finding ways to give people access to information, data, and tools to solve problems. Access, in other words, to power.
Finally, this site has become a creative outlet and a way to reconnect with colleagues, particularly through the new “featured commenters” series I started this summer. I’m having a ton of fun spelunking in the archives for great comments.
Personal:
My dad has been quite sick and I’m visiting my parents in New Jersey as often as I can. As much as I’ve studied and read about these issues, the heavy burden of illness and the serious work of being a caregiver come as a shock each time. Roz Chast‘s book, Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, is rueful, schadenfreudian solace (here’s the NYT review).
Inspired by my sons’ love of Christopher Paolini’s work (and in need of some escapism into a world of dragons and elves) I am reading the last book of the Inheritance series.
When I’m home I walk every day in the woods with our dog, Satch (pictured above).
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