Three is a Magic Number

It's amazing how three years can go by so quickly that it seems like this last letter was just yesterday, but at the same time, too much has happened to write it all down.  So I will spare you all of the details and just focus on the big ticket items. 

First, Patrick and I are both now employed full time.  After working on a contract basis at Integral Consulting for three months, Patrick became a full time employee in March of 2016.  The firm's owner was a sole proprietor until Patrick came on board, and then a year later, another of Patrick's former RTKL co-workers joined their office, which is downtown in the Monadnock Building. They provide consulting services to the architecture and construction industries.  Outside of work, Patrick continues to dedicate himself to his multiple positions in Cub Scouts/Boy Scouts. This year, he finally get someone to take over his job as Tiger Den leader, which was nice since he hasn't had a kid who was Tiger -age (first grade) for a very long time! He continues to serve as the Charter Organization Rep for Troop 949.  

After a long, long, long time looking for a position,  I was fortunate to be hired at the University of Chicago in September of 2016.  Part of what extended my search for so long was that I was hoping to transition out of my previous area of work experience into a university position that was more administrative/project managment than research.  That didn't pan out, so I am back in the kind of setting (medical school) doing the kind of work (grant-funded health services and health policy research) that I left ten years ago.  I still consider myself fortunate to have found something at all, so no complaints.  However,  the reality is that the funding for my position is only certain through this coming July. I've got my fingers crossed that come Christmas 2020, I don't have a new job search story to tell you.  Here's a link to information about the health equity project I'm working on, Solving Disparities, which is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  We are currently proposing to expand our work after July by engaging with state Medicaid Directors and Medicaid health plans to reduce disparities in health outcomes across vulnerable populations. Wish us luck!

As some of you already know, we had some very sad news to share last month.  My mother passed away after a very long struggle with Alzheimer's Disease.  She had been in a very stable state for almost five years, when what appeared to be a subtle change in her capacity to eat coupled with unexplained source of pain contributed over the course of a month to a decline from which she was unable to recover.  She died peacefully surrounded by people who loved her.   My mom had an amazing life, which was chronicled by both the Chicago Sun-Times and the Tribune.   There are no words that could ever truly capture the influence my mother had on my life, both in her active years as well as while she was ill.  My sister Anne and I attempted to get at some of it in her eulogy, which if you are interested, you can read here.