A Busy Time

It’s been a busy time.

My memoir Mud, Microbes and Medicine—How a Curious Anthropologist Got to the Boardroom was published and is already an award winner and reached #1 New Release and #5 in Biotechnology on Amazon.

I wrote the book to provide an honest look at the challenges, mistakes, and mid-course corrections involved in anthropology field work on a remote island in Melanesia (Malo Island, Vanuatu) and the importance of living with and observing people to determine the natural history of infection with hepatitis B virus (surprise—it isn’t what you think) and a different perspective on global health.

The epidemiology and statistical methods I honed were used find the killer in my medical thriller The Goldilocks Genome. The skills I learned from fieldwork were the foundation for my career in biotechnology and Big Pharma – they served me well and I hope others will benefit from my experiences or at least develop an awareness of what we can learn from different cultures.

After I wrote the book, I realized just how unexpected the path from anthropology to biotech and pharma actually was. The uniqueness of the book has been recognized by four major awards:

• 2026 International Impact Book Awards Winner in Medical Professional Biographies

• 2026 Los Angeles Book Festival Winner in Memoir

• 2026 Literary Titan Book Awards Gold Winner in Nonfiction

• 2026 IndieReader Discovery Awards Winner in Coming of Age

My recent podcast interviews can be heard on my website or listened to directly on:

• NPR affiliate, WJCT Public Media’s What’s Health Got To Do With It? - We discuss global health and why it is important to include a human/cultural perspective.

• Ann Mracek on Symphony of the Self - We explored my journey from beach to boardroom—and the process of writing my memoir.

Another perspective on my memoir is found in my interviews with Voyage LA and Bold Journey magazine which highlight my winding career path in Mud, Microbes and Medicine.

My book has continued to receive some wonderful recognition. Both Kirkus Reviews and IndieReader captured exactly what I hoped readers would find in the book in their reviews: a story about curiosity, resilience, and going your own path.

For me, the biggest bonus surprise was rekindling my interest in anthropology. Two abstracts were accepted for the 2026 American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting:

• Global Health: An Anthropology-based Interdisciplinary Toolkit for Real-World Epidemiology

• How a Curious Anthropologist Got to Biotech Boardrooms

I’ve enjoyed the journey of contributing to conversations in both the academia, industry, and engaging with the public.

Here is my interview with WJCT: