Meet the Recipients

August 19, 2009
The Lucidicus Project is proud to award its forty-ninth MISDK today to Sarah H., a nephrology fellow at Yale who is studying to become an academic researcher in the area of Acute Kidney Injury. Sarah first became interested in learning about free markets during her residency, when she saw first-hand the failures of altruism in medical care. She is frustrated by how her views are perceived and by how doctors who stand up for their rights are portrayed as being "evil," "overpaid," and "immoral." She is also frustrated by those in the media who claim that practicing medicine is not innovative or productive. Sarah is confident in her own view of what is right, but often feels like she is the only one who has these views. (Even colleagues of hers who have defected from countries with socialized medicine still cannot grasp that healthcare is not a right.) By reading the materials in the kit, she hopes to deepen her understanding of rights and become a stronger advocate for physicians.

(Interesting note about Sarah's photo: that's the Statue of Liberty in the background.)

July 20, 2009
The Lucidicus Project awarded its forty-eighth MISDK today to Alex H., a graduate of the University of Michigan who is currently in the process of applying to medical school. Alex is interested in medicine for the intellectual challenge of the field and for the satisfaction of improving the lives of his patients. He is currently reading Atlas Shrugged, which is how he became interested in learning more about how philosophy and economics. He is looking forward to reading the essays contained in the kit and seeing what ideas and principles can be applied to understanding the various proposals for health reforms being discussed by policymakers today.

July 7, 2009
The Lucidicus Project awarded its forty-seventh MISDK today to Chris P., a second-year medical student at the University of Arizona. Chris joined the Air Force after high school, served active duty from 1992 to 1998, and later joined the Air force reserves where he served as a Pararescueman in Afghanistan. As a civilian, he worked as a paramedic firefighter before moving to Arizona to earn a BA in Philosophy. As an older student with real-world experience, Chris encountered many students who held ideological views about the world that were not consistent with the knowledge and experienced that he had accumulated first-hand. He found that his views on politics and economics put him in the minority at his liberal arts college, and that most professors expressed little interest in Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. By requesting a kit, Chris wants to hone his understanding of how philosophy and economics apply to medicine, and eventually help others in the field of medicine to see life as an opportunity for individual progress and accomplishment—not self-sacrifice.

June 29, 2009
The Lucidicus Project awarded its forty-sixth MISDK today to Christopher K., a third-year medical student at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, PA. Christopher is currently working in a surgery clerkship at Allegheny General Hospital, also located in Philadelphia. Chris has already read Atlas Shrugged, and he has been waiting for something like The Lucidicus Project to come along to help med students. He is very interested in reading the other materials in the kit, and especially wants to think more about how healthcare can be reformed in a way that a) does not violate the rights of doctors, and b) uses markets (not the arbitrary judgment of government officials) to decide what a service is worth.

June 18, 2009
The Lucidicus Project awarded its forty-fifth MISDK today to Bobby W., a fourth-year medical student at the Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine. He is also an officer in the United States Air Force and a scholarship recipient of the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP). Bobby is very pleased with the medical education that he has received, but he feels unprepared to deal with the complex issues and arguments surrounding health reform in the United States. For instance, he feels there are a number of unresolved questions about President Obama's plans for national healthcare. As he approaches graduation, Bobby is acutely aware that these are issues that will affect him, and that as a physician he will be in a position to influence the debate. He is requesting a kit in order to understand these issues better, and prepare himself for the future.

May 18, 2009
The Lucidicus Project awarded its forty-fourth MISDK today to Thao N., a biology graduate from UC Davis who is preparing to take the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) this spring. Thao currently works part-time as an EMT in the Sacramento/Yolo county area, and has begun the process of applying to medical schools for matriculation in 2010. She has a wide range of interests that includes economics, political science, theater, dance, languages, and science. Since deciding to enter the field of medicine, she has felt a strong need to learn more about the policies that have shaped the field. By requesting a kit, Thao hopes to better understand the history and politics of medicine and healthcare, so that she can participate effectively in future debates and shape the direction of healthcare.

April 24, 2009
The Lucidicus Project awarded its forty-third MISDK today to Ross E., a first-year M.D./Ph.D. student at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, PA. Ross is originally from a small town in southeastern Pennsylvania, and first became interested in free-markets and individual rights when he read Atlas Shrugged in high school. At Penn State, he majored in Biology and became involved in the Penn State Objectivist Club. Ross learned of The Lucidicus Project from a friend of his who is a current member of the campus club. By requesting a kit, he hopes to further his understanding of the foundations of individual rights and how these concepts apply to the field of medicine.

March 23, 2009
The Lucidicus Project awarded its forty-second MISDK today to Quratulain M., a medical student in her final year of studies at the National University of Sciences and Technology in Islamabad, Pakistan. In Pakistan, according to Quratulain, most students graduate and go into practice in overloaded hospitals, where they see as many as 300 patients per day for nominal fees of usually ten rupees (about 18 cents) per patient. There is little infrastructure and few opportunities to accumulate capital to invest in the system or with which to do research. In an attempt to spur the development of academic medicine, Quratulain and her mentor from the Yale University School of Medicine started a research forum in Pakistan to encourage medical students to publish articles and share data. Quratulain plans to use the materials in the kit to train eight of her best writers on how to communicate their ideas more effectively and advocate for rational policies. In addition, as President of the International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (IFMSA) chapter in Islamabad, she also plans to make the materials available to all of the chapter's 300 student members.

March 16, 2009
The Lucidicus Project proudly awarded its forty-first MISDK today to Lisa S., a graduate student of nurse anesthesia at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Prior to entering graduate school, Lisa worked as a nurse in Wisconsin and also served as an Arabic translator for the U.S. Army. She became interested in learning more about free market economics after being exposed to books by Ayn Rand and Neal Boortz. By requesting a kit, Lisa hopes to learn more about how capitalism and individual rights apply to the current issues being discussed in medicine and healthcare.

March 6, 2009
The Lucidicus Project awarded its fortieth MISDK today to a first-year medical student at a medical school on the east coast. This student is still trying to determine where she stands with respect to healthcare reform, so she wishes to remain anonymous. She has been involved with the American Medical Student Association's national healthcare program and has read the arguments put forth by Physician's for a National Healthcare Plan (PNHP), but wants to consider all sides of the debate before forming an opinion. She recognizes that the moral and economic positions expressed by The Lucidicus Project are the complete antithesis to anything she has heard so far. By reading the materials in the kit, she hopes to gain a deeper understanding of the issues and decide which of these two starkly opposed philosophies is true.

February 24, 2009
The Lucidicus Project awarded its thirty-ninth MISDK today to Jake B., a post-graduate student with a major in psychology and pre-medical studies. As an undergraduate, he was warned against going into medicine by doctors who spoke about falling compensation, rising malpractice suits, and other problems in the profession. But after stints in both law school and finance, Jake decided to return to his first loves of medicine and biology. This June he will begin a masters program in Medical Biology, after which he will enter medical school. Jake recently read Atlas Shrugged for the first time, and was moved by Ayn Rand's portrayals of hard work, self-motivation, and reason in a number of characters in the book. By requesting a MISDK, he hopes to learn more about the moral foundations of capitalism and become a stronger advocate of free markets.

February 4, 2009
The Lucidicus Project awarded its thirty-eighth MISDK today to a first-year medical student at Indiana University School of Medicine who wishes to remain anonymous. This student has very wide interests and is always trying to enrich his understanding of important issues. He finds debate on philosophical, political, religious, and other issues to be both interesting and important, and believes that learning and discussing new ideas plays a vital role in rising above common misunderstandings. He is an avid reader of medical blogs, and found out about the The Lucidicus Project through the review on the popular student website HalfMD.com.

January 29, 2009
The Lucidicus Project awarded its thirty-seventh MISDK today to Stephanie A., a fourth-year dual MD-MBA student at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine in Buffalo, NY. For the past few years, Stephanie has been an active participant in health policy issues and advocacy at her local, state, and national levels. Those experiences, combined with her exposure to business issues in her MBA courses, have triggered her interest in learning more about the interaction of economics and medicine today. She is currently taking a course in healthcare economics, but is still looking for answers as to the United States can best reform its healthcare system. She found out about The Lucidicus Project through a comment made on the American Medical Association Medical Student Listserve. She hopes that the materials in the kit will help to answer some of her questions and challenge her thinking.

January 21, 2009
The Lucidicus Project is proud to award its thirty-sixth MISDK today to Kyna Z., a first-year medical student at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Kyna writes that the idea of a kit containing books and materials on philosophical and economic concepts strikes a chord with the liberal arts education that she has learned to treasure. As an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, she took mostly biology and pre-med courses, and had only a few opportunities to study economics and Western Civilization—two areas that she knows are critical to relating her knowledge to a broader context. Many of Kyna's friends majored in economics or philosophy, so she looks forward to being able to discuss the topics in the kit with them more fluently. The idea of making a difference is important to Kyna. She understands that much of healthcare seems broken, but shares with many people a sense of indecision on how to begin to fix the industry. She hopes that the ideas expressed in the kit will help her find her own voice by challenging her to think about the issues from a new perspective.

January 16, 2009
The Lucidicus Project awarded its thirty-fifth MISDK today to Will S., a third-year medical student at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. As an undergraduate, Will started out studying accounting in order to learn a practicable trade and familiarize himself with the inner workings of the business world. By the end of his junior year, he decided to take on the pre-med curriculum in addition to finishing his accounting classes. Now he is looking to go into family practice and apply both his medical and business skills. Will is an eager reader and learner, and hopes that the Medical Intellectual's Self-Defense Kit will help him understand the philosophical and economic aspects of healthcare.

January 6, 2009
The Lucidicus Project awarded its thirty-fourth MISDK today to Jason G., a medical student at the Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine at Midwestern University in Glendale, Arizona. With an undergraduate degree in Political Science, Jason is astute to some of the intertwinings of medicine and public policy. Unfortunately, he rarely encounters voices that favor free markets in medicine—especially among medical students. Nevertheless, he has already read Atlas Shrugged more than once, and is grateful to see that more has been written that is relevant to the case for individual rights in medicine. He is looking forward to going through the materials in the kit and deepening his understanding of rights and capitalism.