Path of The Clinician Engineer
I've spent the vast majority of my career training to become a pharmacist, and subsequently, an informaticist. However, in the last 6 years - especially the last 2 - my curiosities have led me down very different, technical paths that bridge the healthcare and technology industries. During this time, I've also struggled to put into words what exactly I was training to become, but also, what I wish I would have done differently knowing what I know now.
In this article, I'd like to very briefly explore my current, and very rudimentary, ideation of what I'd like OpenClinTech to become: the central hub for training clinicians that want to be at the forefront of developing technology solutions that solve complex healthcare problems. The Clinician Engineer.
Health Tech: The Grass Isn't Always Greener on the Other Side
Ever since I made the transition myself from the healthcare industry into tech (healthcare focused), 1.5 years ago, I've been fairly positive about my experiences and very supportive of others, primarily healthcare professionals, that were interested in making the pivot themselves. However, I think it may be unfair of me to only share the positives and not the negatives - or rather - reasons why you may want to reconsider pivoting to tech. In this article, I want to briefly expand on those thoughts.
Empowering Clinicians with Technology to Solve Healthcare Problems
Less than 2 weeks ago, on June 14, 2023, I graduated from the Stanford University School of Medicine's Biomedical Informatics Graduate Program on and also dropped CS103: Mathematical Foundations of Computing. The latter, as I had mentioned in my last article, would have been my first formal entry into the computer science (#CS) track and the first year of four (2023 - 2027) if I continued with my MS in CS plan I had previously shared in this Google spreadsheet.
Well, I guess that's life.
I imagine quite a few may have already predicted this as I've been quite burnt out trying to juggle everything. Nonetheless, I'm much more excited about what I'm hoping to share in this article which will, hopefully, be a long-term, if not lifelong, commitment towards my future goals: building OpenClinTech.
#healthtech #openclintech #clinicians #healthcare
6 Weeks Until I Graduate Stanford's Biomedical Informatics Graduate Certificate
It feels like forever since I started my first class, BIOMEDIN260 - Data Science for Medicine, less than a year ago in September 2022. They say time flies when you're having fun, but that's also true when you're extremely busy. As I near the completion of Stanford University School of Medicine's Biomedical Informatics (#BMI) Graduate Certificate in 6 weeks and begin my journey through Stanford University School of Engineering's Computer Science (#CS) courses, I wanted to take some time to reflect on my experience thus far.
#healthcareonlinkedin #biomedicalinformatics #computerscience #healthcare #datascience
DIGITAL DISRUPTION IN HEALTHCARE: INSIGHTS FROM A CLINICIAN IN A TECHNOLOGY COMPANY
An insightful article in NEJM Catalyst was published on March 1, 2023, by Karen DeSalvo, Chief Health Officer at Google, and Michael Howell, Chief Clinical Officer at Google. Having spent the last 10+ years as an pharmacist and clinician at multiple health systems (e.g. Mayo Clinic, University of Utah Health, Sarasota Memorial Health Care System), the article made me spend some time today to reflect on my own foray into a technology company just 10 months ago. In short, I am grateful for the path that Karen and Michael undoubtedly paved for other clinicians to venture into this industry.
In this article, I'd like to share my own experience as a health data architect/clinician at Verily, an Alphabet Inc. company and how it relates to the 6 lessons laid out by Karen and Michael. You can read the full #NEJM article here.
WHAT I WANT TO BE WHEN I GROW UP…STILL
I spent the last 2 months engaged in conversation with an assortment of individuals about what I want to be when I grow up. Yes, I'm still trying to figure that out. In fact, I don't think I ever really settled into a career as of yet that made me go, "Wow, I want to do this for the rest of my life".
The thing that fascinates me the most though is that I'm not alone. There are so many individuals out there wondering the same thing. Aside from exploring my own interests, I spent a great deal of time conversing with others, often strangers, on what paths they should take as well. It seemed as though the article I wrote about Data Science resonated with many of you who are in careers at the intersection of healthcare and technology.
In this month's article, I wanted to reflect on some of the conversations I've had over the last 2 months, but also share with you some of my next steps.
Data Science: to Pursue or not Pursue | My Experience taking Stanford's Data for Medicine Class
Every now and then, something happens in life that dramatically alters your trajectory on where you want to go. My experience taking Stanford University School of Medicine's Data Science for Medicine course with professor Nigam Shah is one of them.
No Silver Bullet in Healthcare
On November 17, 2022, Frederick Phillips Brooks Jr., a pioneer in the computer science world and 1999 recipient of the A.M. Turing Award, passed away. I accidentally stumbled upon Fred in an internal Google Health chat where a colleague gave a nod to his contributions over the years and referenced one of his most influential ones, "No Silver Bullet". A contribution that impacted not only him but very likely most, if not all, of the software development industry.
I spent the first hour of my day today reading through some of the highlights of No Silver Bullet (I'll read it in its entirety at some point), published in 1986, along with some reflections on it 20 years later in the 2008 Object-oriented Programming, Systems, Languages, and Applications (OOPSLA) panelist discussion. My rudimentary summaries of both in this article.
Academic Success breeds Mediocrity
As I was reading “Zero to One” by Peter Thiel this morning, I was abruptly and uncomfortably caught by one particular sentence:
“All Rhodes Scholars had a great future in their past”
No matter how many times I attempted to continue reading past that line, I was stopped in my tracks and re-read it again and again.
