I don’t do a very good job of covering what Tom is up to on this blog. I want to be better at including his side of the story. However, I can’t resist documenting this “review.” Cameron McIntyre one of the leader researchers in the field of deep brain stimulation described Tom this way in a talk he gave today: “One of the world’s experts in implantable pulse generator design.” Tom has been working on a device to yield energy savings in stimulators. (Most of us don’t realize that people with pacemakers or deep brain stimulators have to go in for surgery every few years to have batteries replaced!) Tom’s working on extending the battery life. Cameron has already invited him to fly to CA and MI to talk to leading biotech companies to talk about producing his device. 
These past few months Tom has been on a “research block.” He could have just called it vacation time, as he met the “research block” requirements in his five years of PhD work, but he had several projects he wanted to pull together and wrap up. His drive has really impressed me. He set some concrete achievable goals, and it looks like he’s going to accomplish all of them in time for him to return to Med school next week. Tom loves research. It’s been good for me to see him back at research after doing medicine for a while. He enjoys medicine, he loves that he can make a difference. He loves interacting with people. But it doesn’t spark his passion like research does. The never ending challenge of solving hard problems, propels him to stay up late and wake up early. He’ll often dash off after his shower to work out some mathematical equation or do some new coding that “came to him” in the shower. (The shower has yet to have this impact on me.)
I’m so curious to see what career path he chooses. Hopefully his dream will come true and he’ll find an institution which will allow him to do both.