I grew up in Dearborn and graduated from Dearborn High School in 1977. I went to the University of Michigan, majoring in both biology and English. After graduation, I worked in a laboratory doing medical research for a couple of years before going to medical school, again at the University of Michigan, which I graduated from in 1989. After becoming a Psychiatrist and doing a fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, I joined the pharmaceutical industry in 1997. I returned to Michigan a year-and-a-half later and have lived here since then. In the past 12 years in the pharmaceutical industry, I have worked on two drugs that have made it out of testing and into your doctor’s medicine chest—Lyrica, which is used for epilepsy, certain kinds of pain, anxiety, and fibromyalgia; and Chantix which is used for smoking cessation. I ran cross country in high school and was in great shape. I continued to exercise for the next 5 years or so after high school, but didn’t get much exercise between the ages of 25 and 40. I had some back problems when I was 40, and decided to lead a more active and healthier life. I tried a few exercise programs that didn’t work, tried Tang Soo Do for a few months, and then joined the OKC in March of 2002. I was at first, and still am, particularly impressed by the collective knowledge and skill of the black belts in the OKC. I became a Sho-Dan in November, 2007. I think I’ve been able to stick with karate at the OKC because I enjoy it, because it’s a group activity with friends, because it’s good for me, and because it has strong student-teacher relationships embedded into learning the art. My favorite katas are Seisan and Chinto. Caitlin, my middle daughter, is currently a brown belt in the OKC.