Everett's First Substack

A new medium for a new journey.

Having recently accepted the offer from the University of Vermont’s Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Medical Programme to matriculate at UVM starting this summer semester, and having had my programme planning meeting with the post-bac pre-med adviser earlier today, I figured I might as well have my first post on my brand new Substack about it!

I have had a Medium account for several years where I have shared some things of personal interest, and in 2017 I was published in the Wall Street Journal for an op-ed I was lead co-author on that discussed why Congress should fund a ground-based backup to GPS, but admittedly, other than my academic work (including my MSc thesis from UVA), and things shared on my personal social media accounts (LinkedIn and Facebook primarily), the vast majority of the written work I have ever produced has been for various government agencies, much of it restricted from public disclosure. That is to say that much of what I have ever written will likely never see the light of day in my lifetime.

Now, thanks to two friends of mine (both of whom have Substack accounts of their own), I am now aware that Medium is not where the cool kids are anymore, it’s Substack, which is why I have created this account, to be the place where I can keep people informed on my pathway towards a planned career in medicine as a physician and clinical researcher in a place where people are actually reading the things that other people write.

As a culture junkie who still buys physical media (currently I have roughly 1,000 CDs of music I listen to, double that in DVD & Blu Ray titles, as well as over treble that in books), travel fanatic, former recreational political hack, and policy junkie packaged into someone whose professional career has mostly been in the worlds of engineering and environmental sciences, I certainly will not be sticking to life sciences and health care related topics. My goal is to spend roughly two-thirds of my time on such topics, but the other third or so discussing the other stuff I am interested in (which is a lot, I won’t lie), including some passion projects and personal thoughts.

In my writing on this Substack, my goal is to try to be pithy and employ les mots justes, instead of my propensity, reinforced by many years of work in academic and government sectors, towards les mots mo! (Yes, that is a West Wing reference, be prepared for others, for those of you who don’t already know this about me, it is one of my favourite television shows of all time).

With all of that being said, let me thank you for joining me on my journey as documented here on Substack, and conclude by saying: “Geronimo!”