ABOUT EMERALD

I grew up in southeast Denver, with a severely autistic older brother, nerdy technopagan autistic parents, and an early drive for caretaking and advocacy. For us, medical literacy and usefulness is a lifestyle, duty is a self-evident utilitarian obligation, and respect for autonomy is paramount.

I have a deep passion for medicine, and it's part of every aspect of my life. As a kid I did backyard wildlife rehab, as a teenager I got into body piercing (and brought to it a uniquely education-oriented medicalized approach), and as an adult I've worked (so far) in a tiny animal hospital, in medical massage therapy, and in anatomy/physiology tutoring. My core takeaway from these experiences is that client/patient education is the most essential component of building trust, increasing adherence to recommendations, and maximizing outcomes. This observation/strategy fully coalesced in my mind about 17 years ago, and has since been the foundation of all my visions and goals.

I'm also a lifelong musician (mostly in professional and community choirs, but I dabble in a few instruments), love chess (I'm not great, but I have a great time), love fiber arts (especially embroidery and crochet), and love reading (mostly thrillers and medicine-related nonfiction, but working on expanding my horizons -- catch me on Goodreads!). También he estudiado español una y otra vez, y finalmente estoy casi un nivel intermedio.

I have a knack for marketing, an amateur fascination with data science, and a relentless calling to use my broad medical anthropologist perspective to help systems and institutions engage constructively with people in chronic trauma populations. My main focuses are the homeless community/unhoused population, people who've been or are involved with the justice system, and people suffering from substance dependency. I value opportunities to learn all I can about the experiences of people with different disabilities from my own; people with struggles related to learning, literacy, or language; BIPOC people; and LGBTQIA+ people.

I'm privileged to be able to say that law enforcement officers have been valuable allies to me throughout my homelessness experience and other vulnerable times in my life; however, I'm also very aware of and have been personally impacted (albeit nowhere near as much as many others) by unacceptably problematic elements of that system and some individuals within it. As a result, I favor radical police reforms, and I recognize that most law enforcement officers are good, compassionate people, who are legitimately driven to serve and protect, and who desire systemic change themselves. I think the most urgent and catalyzing ingredient for healing society's relationship with law enforcement will be comprehensive public education about the way laws and public policy work, the way state and local departments function, and the general concepts of best practices and scopes of practice.

I believe that autonomy is of vital, unexceptionable, downright sacred importance in medicine and in all other areas of social welfare. I've observed that every individual's sense of autonomy and agency is directly tied to their self-perception and self-worth, and thus key to their social and health outcomes. (This is one reason I support basic income programs and housing-first philosophy.)

I believe change is possible from within any system, and that humans can improve and are improving the world.

Most of all, I believe -- and will defend this position with facts and logic -- that people are fundamentally good, and that every person is doing the best they believe they can at any given time, according to the information and opportunities available to them.

As a result, I believe every person, without exception, no matter where they are or how they got there, no matter where they're from, no matter what they've done, no matter how they live, and no matter what they think, is inherently entitled to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the essential resources and utilities (including medical care, fair justice, and internet access) that are necessary to access and exercise those rights.

PROJECTS & PLANS

Having recently become housed after roughly a decade-long streak of homelessness and housing insecurity, my life is under significant remodel. I have gigabytes of old Evernote notebooks (and Google Docs, paper notebooks, Obsidian files -- you name it, I've piled words into it) packed with ideas and business plans and nonprofit concepts, developed over either 15 years or a lifetime of healthcare experience (depending on how you slice it). I love marrying a problem with another problem so that they neatly solve each other. I embrace my compulsion to do what I think is right and necessary, no matter how difficult, frustrating, or supposedly impossible it may be.

Watch this space for further developments, and feel free to get in touch if you'd like to hear about my favorite plots and schemes!

CONTACT ME