CURRENT MISSION

Graduate

ABOUT ME

I am a MD/PhD student at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. I am working on a PhD in cancer pathology. I study how our cells cope with DNA that has been damaged by harmful things in the environment, like sunlight. Out of lab, I bike and run and play basketball, and I play in and help organize a local competitive men's soccer league and volunteer coach for a kid's league. I get out of the city as much as possible, preferred destination mountains. I prefer making eye contact while conversing with people. I enjoy traveling to new places and trying to mix in with their culture as much as possible. I like to try to blend in when I visit new places, but this can be challenging.

PHILOSOPHY

Let's tease that one out over a cup of coffee

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

At a minimum, sharing my home and being a respectful guest. In practice, by sharing my perspective of the world, being a respectful audience on others', and engaging in thoughtful conversation that compares and contrasts the differences between the two. For me couchsurfing has been about culture-surfing just as much as couch-surfing, and it has been great in all ways.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've hosted some great and interesting people - both friends and strangers - and had a good and memorable experience each time. I have also been fortunate to be hosted by tremendously insightful, articulate, and outgoing people, exposing me to glimpses of other countries and cultures I never would have otherwise seen.

Interests

Science, Current Events, Food, Social Justice, Languages, Decriminalizing things that shouldn't be criminal, Mountains, DNA, Medicine, Camping, Climbing, Coffee, eXpresso, Wine, Backpacking, Working on my car, Mechanic hands, Biking, Biking really really far in short amounts of time, Hiking, Soccer, Skiing, Running, Flowers, Spanish, I-talian, Central America, Math, Engineering, Working in my garden, Surface Chemistry, Supercritical fluids, Locally owned businesses, cats that aren't assholes

• cats
• culture
• environment
• dining
• wine
• coffee
• running
• coach
• gardening
• flowers
• traveling
• cycling
• hiking
• backpacking
• camping
• surfing
• skiing
• basketball
• rock climbing
• soccer
• chemistry
• engineering
• languages
• mathematics
• medicine
• science
• volunteering
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Musica: NIN, Muse, Pink Floyd, Tori Amos, Litfiba, Coldplay, Soda Stereo, Ligabue, DMX, Chopin, Zepplin, Hendrix, Doors, Cafe Tacuba, Fugazi, U2, Ozomatli, Phish, Van Halen (embarrassingly), Rush, Mana (before selling out to MTV), bands that don't sell out to MTV.
Movies: El Norte, The Godfathers, Pulp Fiction, Food Inc., Gamorra, Hotel Rwanda
Books: A Clockwork Orange, Catch 22, Lies and the Lying Liars that Tell Them, C&P, Alchemist, Kite Runner

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Changed our fundamental understanding of a human disease.

Teach, Learn, Share

Not sure you want to learn about how environmental genotoxins can cause cancer, but if you are...

What I Can Share with Hosts

Knowledge, energy, food, experiences, fun.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, El Salvador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Italy, United States

•