Acting Doctor

I was born in Kenya and raised by my father who was a Kenyan surgeon and my Scottish mother who had a love for the humanities. I received my BA in English at McGill University in Montreal, Canada and my MFA in Theatre with a concentration in Acting at Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois. I have taught Acting, Speech, Improvisation, and Honors Humanities Seminars at several universities including Lane College, Stillman College and, most recently, Murray State University, where I held the positions of Assistant Professor of Acting, as well as Academic Dean of the Commonwealth Honors Academy.

I have also performed in multiple professional acting roles including Horace Vandergelder in Hello Dolly at the Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre in Colorado; The King in The King and I at Wolfarht-Haus Theatre in Virginia; and Jim in Big River at Peach State Summer Theatre in Georgia.

In 2011, I made a major life transition after deciding to transfer my knowledge of the human condition from the world of fiction to non-fiction by enrolling in medical school, where I am now in my fourth year, on a clinical research leave of absence seeking out what I might previously in Theatre have called the “backstory.”

Fueled by the belief that we can use “story” to heal the human body in addition to modern medicine, I have found that my liberal arts background coupled with my medical knowledge has placed me in a unique position to not just treat a patient on the physical level but on the emotional level as well by getting the patient to tell their story.  Interestingly, as the field of Narrative Medicine will acknowledge, what ails us and makes us sick often times has a story to it.  I pursue my love for writing and my passion for medicine to ensure that those stories are written and honored. I recently contributed a story to MindWise, the podcast of the Michigan Alzheimer’s disease center, based on a interview with a patient living with memory loss. I have also served as a moderator for the Medical Arts Program at the University of Michigan and directed a staged reading of the medically themed play Molly Sweeney based on a real case study by famed neurologist Oliver Sachs.

My fascination with shifting identities provides a link between my work as an actor and the machinations and pathologies of the human brain in medicine. My attraction and penchant for interdisciplinary work has led to such diverse projects as improvisation workshops with MBA students tackling the 21^st century challenge facing all professions, how to approach the unexpected.

Which all brings me to this blog. Why blog?

1. To reflect: In a fast paced world where there is precious little opportunity to step back and ask important questions like “Why?” this blog represents a chance to do just that.

2. To learn: I want to connect with thoughtful people and learn from their ideas.

3. To share my story with my children: There are thousands of stories that are being archived right now in the Library of Congress. I don’t know if my story will end up there, but I do know that I can leave it right here for my two most important readers, my boys Christian and Cameron.