ABOUT

I began my writing career with short stories, a dozen of which have been published in literary journals. Two have received recognition in the F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival Short Story Contest.

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My interest in theater and in writing dialogue drew me to playwriting. Three of my plays have been produced: Levy’s Ghost (Baltimore, Maryland, 2005), Shadow of the Valley (St. Paul, Minnesota, 2005), and Fourteen Days in July (Baltimore, Maryland, 2014). A fourth play, Chekhov of Sakhalin, is a fictional recreation of Anton Chekhov’s life-changing visit to the horrific Russian prison encampment on Sakhalin Island. It awaits the interest of a creative director and a welcoming stage.

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The Radical Radiance of the Fishing Fly is my first published novel.

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I earned my Master’s in Writing (fiction concentration) from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, in 2003. I received a B.A. from Johns Hopkins (1977) and an M.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee (1981).  

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In addition to my literary career, I have dedicated much of my professional life to advancing global health, serving as an HIV/AIDS researcher at the National Institutes of Health, as a reviewer of vaccine licensure applications at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and as a developer of vaccines intended to end the deadly stealth pandemic of tuberculosis.

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I live in North Bethesda, Maryland, with my wife, Frances Marshall.