A brief update

And a new direction for this Substack

A few things:

1. As mentioned, I have been working tirelessly on AI. I do not know if I have communicated about it, but I have been working on AI for healthcare applications. This will allow me to have the impact on medicine that I wanted to have as a doctor. One thing that I have learned is that leveraging AI in healthcare (or any high-stakes domain) is extremely complex. From the many conversations that I have had, many AI developers even at well-funded startups are not leveraging the technology to its fullest potential; I would even argue that many do not quite even know what they are doing. Which gives me the opportunity to get to the cutting edge quickly. It has taken me months working 100-hour weeks to do that, and I’m just about there now. A related project that I have built my skills on will be published soonish, and I will share the details here when that happens. Then I will begin working on AI in healthcare per se.

2. I am working on a book about the related phenomena of the crisis of trust and of innovation within medical science and clinical medicine, and the future of these fields. What I experienced during my PhD and medical training is best understood by placing in the context of broader macro trends since the late 1960s. What we witnessed during the pandemic—the blatant public gaslighting in particular—is only the most florid manifestation of a gradual decline of medical science and innovation in the West—and of the political capture of our institutions that was set in motion many decades ago. Fauci et al. were only the physical and symbolic avatars of deeper corrosive forces that have been shaping—and ultimately degrading—modern science and technological progress. To address these issues requires that we understand the broader macro forces that have been shaping science and medicine for decades, where they are leading, and what policy and cultural levers we can apply to circumvent them and, given our current trajectory, reshape a better future. If that sounds a bit wonky, it isn’t. We’ll also discuss a great deal more than just this dry subject matter: theology, Western philosophy, ostracism, witch burnings, show trials, the Stasi and Zersetzung, AI, etc., just to name a few topics that readers will enjoy. And in a way that is accessible to anyone. Many of these should be new topics to some or many of you, and I am excited about that. That said, to say that I am enjoying the process, however, would be a lie. I’ve gotten good at writing posts, op-eds, and other articles, but I’ve never written a book, and it’s changing the way I have to approach writing. It’s daunting, to say the least. But since I have decided to do it, I have decided that it will be great. I hope readers will enjoy.

3. The book will provide all of the details and relevant documentation about what happened during my dismissal from medical school. The last time I tried writing about this, people at my former school called the campus police and filed a trespassing complaint. I was at home the entire time and have server logs and witnesses. The campus police could not provide any video footage, which would have been available had these claims been true. Therefore, due to the retaliation that I may be exposed to from the account that I will publish, I will be publishing the entire account all at once, rather than in pieces. Subscribers will get the book for free. There will be follow-up along other channels, in tandem.

4. I should note that I have no great motivation to be a whistleblower or anything of the sort. I would rather prefer to be working on AI and creating a great startup. But the libel was so overwhelming and impactful—with no avenue that I can see to reasonably address it that won’t require years of effort—that at minimum a public response, at least of this kind, is required.

5. Although I have a great deal of confidence in the many officials appointed under the Kennedy HHS, I am very dissatisfied by the scientific messaging of RFK Jr. himself, as well as several in his inner circle. My contention is that scientific integrity is important, and that it does not matter who is broadly in my coalition and who is not. If it were, then I would be no different from those who stood by silently as the public health establishment repeatedly lied throughout the pandemic. In which case: what did I sacrifice so much for? Therefore, I will be publishing systematic evaluations of many of the public claims of RFK Jr. and those who he has brought into the administration with him. It is my belief that these claims are getting more extreme over time as RFK Jr. become more comfortable in his position. I was wrong to think that the worst excesses of RFK Jr. might be curtailed once he had public office, and I regret endorsing him. Many of his claims have the potential to do tremendous damage to public trust in science and public health, because they are false. I will do my small part in addressing them on a ~weekly basis, starting now.

I apologize for not updating until now and for being so quiet. Medicine was and remains everything to me. Reforging a new professional and personal identity took time, especially after such ruthless attempts at reputational destruction, which, as someone who even up to my dismissal retained a great deal of institutional trust, were absolutely devastating, to my core. I’m ready to begin sprinting ahead and sharing more of my journey.

To end on a note of uplift: let’s give them all hell.