Hey all,
the handy “WWW” link above this post goes to my website, which describes my work and some of my interests in a not-entirely personal way (it’s a general site to which I sometimes refer employers, et al.)
and beyond that,
I’m a 32 year old from San Francisco, living in Washington DC during this year, and applying. I’ve been at it since Jan. 1999 when I first started chemistry and biology at San Francisco State University. I just got into my first school (Stanford! which I’d be very happy to attend) for entry in the fall of 2002, so at the moment I’m feeling pretty happy about the whole process and open to answering questions about what I’ve done so far.
I think it might be useful for some of us OPM veterans to try to establish some advice niches for ourselves–that is, some of us are better at answering some questions than others, so I thought I’d lay out some of the areas where I might be particularly helpful:
San Francisco State University
SF Bay Area opportunities/choices (schools, volunteering, etc)
research-oriented careers
immunology
HIV/AIDS
public health
NIH opportunities
making a transition from a health-related field to medicine (in my case, from public health/community organizing)
–and though I’m dating women these days, my past work and life in the gay community is a significant part of my application, so I’d be glad to correspond with GLBT applicants who are thinking about the problems and dilemmas of being “out” or not during this process, experiences of discrimination and lack of discrimination, and how friends of mine and I of various orientations dealt with these various issues.
Finally, I have some thoughts about personal statements, I’m a decent writer if I do say so myself, and am willing to read at least some of them–but especially from people who make contributions of their own to the OPM conversation and forums.
OK, cheers–
SF/DC Joe