Breadth of Potential.

The past three months have been really florid for me professionally. I’ve had three papers come out, and given about 4 talks to audiences of varying size and background. The professor at VFU who oversaw the funding of my grant and I had a conversation about me possibly teaching a class there in the department of health management. Which would allow me to put another “Adjunct Professor” title on my CV. My current adjunct position at  ILU is being extended, and my collaborator there is trying to get funding for further development and academic ventures (i.e., my salary).

Tomorrow, I’m meeting with a local research director of the hospital, also associated with VFU, which is part of the same chain of hospitals as my former institution. I wrote an R01eq a few cycles ago that got very well reviewed – but just missed funding – and is still eligible for resubmission. This is the R01eq I wrote for 3 years and about $500,000, for which many told me I was totally insane. But I was specifically told in the summary statement that the budget and timeline were strong factors in my favor. My philosophy being that cheap, innovative science might get a little bit of a boost.

However, MECMC’s mission and the research department I’m meeting with tomorrow are not entirely compatible. I’m reasonably certain that MECMC is not up for selling my time. I could go to 125%, but I’m not sure I want to. Especially if I’m sort of already at 125% because of my gig at ILU. Mostly, I want to impress upon the local other hospital that I can be of use to them. It’s a plan B situation.

But I have a lot of possibilities. And I feel like I’m doing well where I am. I keep getting talked about at the highest levels of MECMC’s administration. In good ways. I’m hopeful of many things flourishing. I’m putting in an R18 here in the spring. I’m looking to meet with the other affiliated hospital at VFU, in order to see if some of my ideas for emergency department analysis would be of value there.

And it looks like a serendipitous tweet exchange will result in a small project and publication! Which is super exciting! I love working in the world of ideas that impact lives. It’s exciting. I think I’m at least reasonably good at it. But right now, I’m deeply ready for a major vacation.