Overview

As the son of an Air Force Sergeant, Steve was fortunate to spend four years at the Air Force base in Torrejon, just outside Madrid, not long before the generalissimo's demise. The one constant source of interest for Steve, in all the fascinating places he traveled in his family's Peugeot, was the tiny reptiles that skittered about in the warm sunshine, daring him to catch them. Royal Oaks, a housing complex near the capital city, bustled with the ceaseless arrivals and departures of Air Force families who formed a tight-knit, supportive community in the midst of the Spanish population that often derided GIs, and which had little affection for the U.S. government. The patches of wilderness interspersed between their homes supported a vibrant reptile community, so Steve and his friends formed a lizard-catching league, descending into the sandy gullies almost daily to pursue the elusive six-lined racerunner. In this unusual setting, Steve underwent a transition from a meek young boy, riddled with self-doubt, to a pre-teen with an audacious dream-to become a physician. The journey began with an incomparable fifth-grade teacher, the unstinting support of a demanding father, the camaraderie of two loyal friends, and the inspiration of the elusive lizards they avidly pursued. The story chronicles the challenges, successes, failures, and accomplishments Steve experienced as he evolved from pupil to scholar in the final year of elementary school, acquiring a small measure of self-confidence and establishing the foundation for his eventual entry into the medical profession.

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Steve practices anesthesiology at a university medical center in western Pennsylvania. After medical school, he trained in emergency medicine, critical care, and anesthesiology, eventually settling on the latter as his long-term profession. His areas of interest and expertise are acute pain management and regional anesthesia, which is the provision of nerve blocks to help control postoperative pain. Much of his time is spent providing education for hospital residents, both didactic and clinical bedside teaching. He also performs clinical research and has had over one hundred articles and textbook chapters published in the anesthesia and emergency medicine literature. He enjoys creative as well as professional writing, and has published two novels, two medical texts (one as co-author), and a patient education monograph. As a member of an Air Force family, his early life was spent traversing the globe with his father, who was assigned to a number of interesting places. Steve has lived in many different areas, throughout the U.S. and overseas, courtesy of the Air Force, his medical training, and the Navy, which he joined to pay for medical school. The geographical, social, and cultural variety he experienced early in his life instilled in him a sense of curiosity and an interest in animals, science, and biology. Eventually, this led to his career in medicine and his desire to share what he has experienced and learned through his writing.

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