Reposting my (long) #introduction since I’ve migrated to a new instance.

My career at BJC HealthCare / BJH included #antimicrobialstewardship; #infectiousdiseases #pharmacotherapy; #vaccines; #medicationsafety; #patientcare; #teaching; research; lots of administrative stuff.

Former editor BJH Tool Book on the #Dorsata platform.

Still doing human research review with the #IRB and #genetherapy studies review with the #IBC at #WUSM.

In addition to science, I believe in democracy, the important role of journalism, and a round Earth.

#LanguageLearning

My language learning journey started in jr. high school with #Esperanto, attempting to self-learn it from a public library book and short-wave radio. My #Russian and #Spanish are passable. My #French and #Italian are fading. Still a beginner at #Japanese. #Kanji is a slow death for me, but #bushido / budo and #Zen culture keeps me engaged. Putin’s war crimes convinced me to start learning #Ukrainian.

Russian sparked my interest in #ColdWar history and to volunteer for the St. Louis-Samara #SisterCities Committee, for which I’ve hosted Russian medical and cultural delegates in my home.

#Travel

In 2010, my language and Cold War interests combined with my hospital’s changing ETO retention policy got me to travel more internationally. In 2015, I completed my original travel goal of going to the last 5 Communist countries. In order of visit: #China, #NorthKorea, #Vietnam, #Laos, #Cuba.

My country count so far is only 33. Hoping to grow that during retirement. My 3 most remote places: Pyongyang and the DMZ, #DPRK; the Eastern Highlands of #PapuaNewGuinea; and Bayan-Ulgii, #Mongolia. Still need to visit 2 more continents - Antarctica and Africa. I’ve been to 42 US states, including AK and HI.

#Photography

I became a photographer early in my travels. My kit is a #Canon 5DM3, EF 16-35 mm; f2.8, and EF 70-200 mm f2.8 and #iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Currently, drawn to international #festivals. I’ve hauled my heavy glass to photograph the #Goroka Sing Sing (PNG); Kazakh golden eagle hunters (Mongolia), Aboriginal singers at the #DesertMob Festival (Alice Springs, #Australia) and Yabusame / mounted archers (Nikko, #Japan).

If you got this far, thanks for reading all of this. Here to learn, be social and feed my wide variety of interests.

Photo:

This #Kazakh #eagle hunter surprised the hell out of me by standing next to me as I photographed the competitors at the 20th anniversary of the Golden Eagle Festival. Taken at the base of the Altai Mountains, just outside Bayan-Ulgii, Mongolia, about 100 miles/160 km from the nearly intersecting borders of Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Russia, and China. October 8, 2019