I’m currently a neurosurgical resident. Earlier in life I was sure I wanted to be a screenwriter and I went away to USC’s School of Cinema-Television Cinematic Arts. Film school is awesome, no doubt, but I soon realized that for a career I wanted something a little more substantial. I had the privilege of shadowing some surgeons and fell in love with medicine. I did a year of general surgery training before matching into neurosurgery.

I still love film. I still love to write, that’s partly why I’m posting here. Maybe those things will come later.

Beyond film, writing, and neurosurgery my interests include healthcare policy, international travel, politics, current events, skiing, college football, cigars, classical history and video games. I want to use Residency Notes to inform the public on neurosurgical issues as well as to shed some light into the training process for physicians.

Residency Notes is the continuation of a blog, From Medskool, which ran for four years from me learning of my acceptance into medical school until late in my fourth year. It was a cathartic endeavor which let me comment essentially on whatever I wanted to. This new endeavour is hopefully a little more focused.

I promise not to stray into actual patient info and not to ever give out medical advice. None of what I discuss on the site should be considered medical advice.

In addition to Residency Notes in the past I’ve helped Nick Genes run the day to day operations of Grand Rounds. I previously wrote a weekly column for Medscape entitled Pre-Rounds and at Medscape’s student blog, The Differential.

Currently I have no relevant financial relationships which would influence what I post here on Residency Notes.