the afternoon nap society

In addition to my work as an advocate, my actual "job" has been as a reporter and editor. I've been in the field professionally since I was 17 (though one could count running the school yearbook and starting a literary magazine as my initial forays). My first employment outside a horse stable was in an university's public relations office. I worked four summers there moving up from the mail room and putting together basic press releases to writing full articles and contracting for assignment work while at college. I earned a degree in journalism with an outside concentration in political science at UNC-Chapel Hill. While there I worked as a writer, desk editor and managing editor of The Daily Tar Heel; wrote for and edited a literary magazine; volunteered for Journalists United to Maximize Potential, a student-run organization that taught middle school students how to produce a newspaper; interned in public relations for the Morehead Planetarium; and interned in publi

Each September since 2012, healthcare's thought leaders and innovators have come together at Stanford University for an unique conference event that gives true meaning to the phrase patients included. Medicine X is an academic medical conference for everyone. Participants from throughout the industry—clinicians, nurses, researchers, device developers, technology creators, pharmaceutical representatives, designers and others—join activated, empowered and engaged patients. Known as ePatients, these patients are at the forefront of changing healthcare to become more patient­ centered. Stanford Medicine X is the premiere international convening of thought leaders around healthcare innovation, education, design and patient empowerment. Medicine X has begun accepting applications for full and partial scholarships for patients to attend and speak at the 2015 event. Full and partial scholarships are awarded to as many as 35 patients to enable their conference participation. Schola