A Unique Perspective on the Value of Science and Medicine

I'm posting in hopes of diversifying the connections that I have to
people who are working to help me to find a way to use my unique
training and extraordinary experience to facilitate the creation and
maintenance of the best possible environment for translational
research and the development of new drugs and devices to treat or cure
everything from blindness and diabetes to cancer, Parkinson's and
Alzheimer's.

I'm currently engaged in post-doctoral training in science policy,
medical education and bioethics at Yale, and have a Ph.D. in Genetics
(specializing in stem cell science and policy) from Yale, Masters' in
Genetics from Yale and Harvard, a Master's in Public Affairs from
Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School and a Bachelor's in Political
Science from Yale.

I have worked with hundreds of senior governmental and non-
governmental scientists and policy makers across the United States and
Western Europe on a wide variety of issues in health, science,
technology and disability
policy. In doing so, I have used my team building, communications and
problem solving skills to innovate and find creative, cost-effective
solutions to complex problems.

My innovations and community service activities include:
* Co-creation of the first high-throughput system of off-the-shelf
technologies to make printed material available to the totally blind --
a paradigm for many of today's methods for opening printed material to
the visually impaired
* Developing policies and procedures with senior officials of Yale,
Princeton and the NIH that make scientific and non-scientific data and
facilities accessible to scientists, physicians, the disabled and the
lay public
* Helping to make the biomedical literature electronically accessible
in environments where access to data can be restricted
* Initiating programs at Yale, Princeton and Harvard that have allowed
students preparing for health care careers to perform community
service while being trained to combine science, technology and
individual caregivers in order to add significantly to the quality of
life enjoyed by the elderly, disabled and chronically ill.

All of my successes and innovations have occurred on the background of
combined blindness and diabetes. Everything in my experience strongly
motivates me to use all of the skills, training and abilities that
have
supported my success so far to facilitate academic, corporate and
governmental institutions in combining science, technology and people
in order to get things done and to help these organizations to express
why and how they do
their work.

I would be glad to forward a resume and a more detailed sense of my
life and accomplishments to anyone who would be interested in my
diverse skills, training and experience or to any advocacy group or
media outlet interested in learning more about me and the more than
500 amazing student volunteers who have helped me with the insulin
measurements and glucose monitoring that my lack of vision has
prevented me from carrying out independently in the past.

Some of these amazing people have set four alarms in order to be sure
to meet me in order to take care of my morning medical routine. Others
have climbed out of windows in ice-bound buildings in order to help
me. They have also traveled with me to Europe, China and many places
in North America and joined me on hikes, ski trips and in completing a
rollerblading marathon.

My volunteers have done so much for me and have opened my eyes to many
things about science and medicine (and, of course, life), that I
wouldn't have learned otherwise. They tell me that I have helped them
to achieve and
shown them that success is as much about openness and positive
attitude as it is about hard work and thoughtful choices. They also
tell me that I've opened them to new perspectives on the ethical and
technical problems and
possibilities that will shape the growth of science, medicine and
health care in the future.

Please feel free to reach me at if you know
people who would like to learn more about me or if you are interested
in talking about science, medicine, and health care.

Thanks to everyone for reading and thinking on this posting.

Matthew A. Weed, Ph.D.

 

Let's hope you're not planning on doing a lot of non-technical writing
in this career....

Ugh.