News from 強華

Hi again, this is 強華. Sorry I can’t write in Chinese.

I am so glad to know that 美吟 is also a student!

I went back to school full-time three years ago, but not for psychology. I left psychology in 1986 (after killing almost 100 rats) to study in biostatistics. After that I came to Dartmouth in New Hampshire (the State you only hear every 4 years for the Primary Election) in 1988 to work as an analyst. See, I just love numbers.

My work is related to US health care. We use Medicare data (a federal health care program for age>=65) to understand variation of care that related to health outcomes. We have our own MS/MPH and PhD programs. Last year we changed our name. It is called “The Dartmouth Institute – for health policy and clinical practice”

Well, that is a mouth-full name but dose not tell you what I am studying about. I am studying the different practice patterns between two primary care specialists – family physicians and general internists, and their related health outcomes.

Does any one know what is primary care in Chinese?

How long will I be a PhD student? Lord willing, I hope I can defend my thesis by end of this year.

So what I am doing when I am not studying? that actually does not happen too often these days, as 傳貞 can tell – I am not home too much. ):

But that dose not mean I do nothing except for studying. I’m also working as a part-time analyst to pay my bills (or continue working the same job with pay cut). I like to take my dog, Indie (for independent so I don’t need to take care of him too much), for a walk. We walk all seasons, as long as no rain and temperature above 0. And yes, that include winter. In winter, I do snowshoeing.

Just to show you where I live, I include few pictures. I live very close to Vermont, that means I can bike crossing States. WOW, very impressed. On July 12 I am going to bike 25 miles to support a cancer fundraising event. With all the hills, I probably will finish it by pushing my bike, although I did well two weeks ago with a group of people from my church. My church is in Vermont now. I used to go down to the Chinese church near Boston, where I met王琳老師’s family there. I started going to the Valley Bible Church in Vermont about 5 years ago. It makes sense that I stay local and now even more make sense for the gas price is so high.

So far, only 傳貞 and her husband have been my home. If any one of you comes to Boston/NY and wants to come up, you are very welcome. Just drop me a note.

OK. This is a long update. Enjoy the weekend.