Welcome to Heavy Mental!

Dear Reader,

My name is Danny. I have an MD and PhD (biomedical engineering) from The Ohio State University. My field is child neurology and I started residency at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio in 2017. I took a long and circuitous route to my career, but it was worth the journey. On the weekends I play guitar and piano for the dopest ’90s cover band in town!

My goal for this blog is to describe my experiences as a young physician both in and out of clinical practice. So much of my life outside the hospital shapes how I practice medicine and, vice versa, my experiences in the hospital (which can range fully from joy to sadness and are almost always profound) influence my personal life. However, I do not intend on this being a journal, but rather a series of essays that I hope are both informative and moving.

Here are a few things I am passionate about and will likely form the themes of this blog: science-based and evidence-based practice of medicine, fighting medical quackery, social justice and global health, the latest science news items, my cat named Richard Feynman, Cleveland sports, and (of course) rock and roll!

I hope you enjoy taking part in this journey with me.

Danny