Full Transcript for Beyond the Stethoscope

not only about medical care these days, it's also about well-being, in a sense of feeling good feeling, having a strong mental health as well as our physical health. 00:02:17.735 --> 00:02:20.364 Yeah, no, that's fantastic and thank you for sharing. 00:02:20.364 --> 00:02:23.580 You know what you do for the state and thanks for being here. 00:02:23.580 --> 00:02:27.885 But I think you know to get started, I got a little bit of a hint of a twang there. 00:02:27.885 --> 00:02:31.750 I know you're hiding it really well, but let's start right at the beginning. 00:02:31.750 --> 00:02:36.074 So you're not originally from New Hampshire, you are from Kentucky. 00:02:36.253 --> 00:02:38.736 Yeah, okay, bluegrass State originally. 00:02:39.198 --> 00:02:41.866 So tell us a little bit about what that was like growing up. 00:02:41.866 --> 00:02:43.471 How did your family get to Kentucky? 00:02:43.471 --> 00:02:45.066 Were they always there? 00:02:45.860 --> 00:02:46.581 No, I think. 00:02:46.581 --> 00:02:59.054 Other than Native Americans, our ancestors were not from the United States, and so I grew up in central Kentucky, in a little town, or outside the town, called Bardstown. 00:02:59.054 --> 00:03:04.487 It's called the bourbon capital of the world, and you left. 00:03:04.487 --> 00:03:04.968 And. 00:03:04.989 --> 00:03:06.793 I left I did. 00:03:06.973 --> 00:03:07.935 But I grew up on a farm. 00:03:07.935 --> 00:03:13.631 I had worked at my parents' family farm and my father ran a sawmill. 00:03:13.631 --> 00:03:14.854 I worked at the mill. 00:03:14.854 --> 00:03:23.343 So I grew up in a very different situation, I think, than probably a lot of future doctors did. 00:03:23.343 --> 00:03:25.911 I grew up in a very agrarian situation. 00:03:28.024 --> 00:03:29.008 What was that like as a kid? 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:31.287 Well, it was exciting. 00:03:31.287 --> 00:03:43.673 I had cows, I had responsibilities, I had chores outside each day, worked at the mill, whether it was stacking lumber or fulfilling orders with my father. 00:03:43.673 --> 00:03:47.610 So it was originally my grandfather's business. 00:03:47.610 --> 00:03:54.693 He worked and started the sawmill business back after Prohibition ended. 00:03:54.693 --> 00:04:15.639 So you know, the whiskey industry has been, you know, big in Kentucky for a few hundred years, grew over time for a few hundred years, grew over time, and so after Prohibition the whiskey distilleries grew tremendously and rapidly. 00:04:17.720 --> 00:04:24.083 So I remember an old story that my grandfather said when I was a really young child that after Prohibition, one of the big distilleries, there was one called Heaven Hill Distillery. 00:04:24.103 --> 00:04:42.286 Prohibition, one of the big distilleries, there was one called Heaven Hill Distillery and Mr Shapira who owned that distillery told my grandfather I want quantity not quality as far as the production of the lumber to build the warehouses, and then, and also you know, the lumber and such would go into the barrels. 00:04:42.286 --> 00:04:49.264 So my ancestors came to central Kentucky getting back to your question a few hundred years ago. 00:04:49.264 --> 00:05:00.648 Originally the first ballard that came to the United States came in about 1650s to Virginia. 00:05:00.648 --> 00:05:11.927 It was called Middle Plantation Virginia, which is now known as Williamsburg, and so my first ancestor ballard that came to the United States. 00:05:11.927 --> 00:05:45.872 He had a 300-acre farm farmed and he was actually in the legislature in Virginia before the United States was a country Yep, and then, several generations later, the first ballard that moved inland to Kentucky was in the Revolutionary War and he settled where my family currently lives today, near about, and so we've been on that land farming and being tenants of the land for a few hundred years now. 00:05:46.273 --> 00:05:47.134 Wow, that's impressive. 00:05:47.134 --> 00:05:57.589 Now, when you were growing up and you were sawing lumber and raising cattle and running around, was medicine ever kind of a thought in your head? 00:05:57.589 --> 00:06:05.413 It just seems like such a unique journey to go from farming to you know now the chief medical officer. 00:06:06.213 --> 00:06:08.807 Sure, it sounds like a stretch but it really wasn't. 00:06:08.807 --> 00:06:12.411 So I didn't know at the time, but I was interested in biology. 00:06:12.411 --> 00:06:20.151 I had that agrarian background, I was in raised animals. 00:06:20.151 --> 00:06:28.420 But the other thing that was interesting to me was when I worked at my father's sawmill and we had individuals coming in on a daily basis. 00:06:28.420 --> 00:06:29.564 It was all day long. 00:06:29.564 --> 00:06:33.992 People would knock on our door and want to speak about some type of a need. 00:06:33.992 --> 00:07:04.845 I met individuals from a wide aspect of life and I also lived in a community that was rural, high levels of life and you know, and I also lived in a community that was rural, high levels of poverty, and I could directly see the linkages between environmental factors, social factors, other factors that would lead to whether or not you had a healthy life, whether you had unnecessary suffering in life. 00:07:04.845 --> 00:07:09.805 And I think that that was sort of what led me down the path. 00:07:09.805 --> 00:07:14.365 I didn't know it at the time, I didn't ever as a child say I want to be a doctor when I grow up. 00:07:14.365 --> 00:07:31.615 But I knew I liked the science of biology and I knew I liked working with people, and so I think that's what so naturally progressed over that time period, as I, you know, pursued different aspects for college and eventually got into medicine. 00:07:32.060 --> 00:07:33.807 Now, do you have siblings? 00:07:33.807 --> 00:07:35.101 I do. 00:07:35.101 --> 00:07:38.543 I have two older brothers Now. 00:07:38.543 --> 00:07:46.901 I am the first generation

in my family, along with my brothers, to go to college, so I never had any ancestors that were college graduates. 00:07:46.901 --> 00:07:54.427 You know, growing up in agrarian situations and it wasn't the the you know the life that individuals pursued then. 00:07:54.427 --> 00:07:59.423 My oldest brother is 10 years older than me and my middle brother's five years older than me. 00:07:59.423 --> 00:08:11.213 My oldest brother became a pharmacist, I think you know I was a young child in late elementary school when he was already going off to college and pursuing a degree in the science field. 00:08:11.213 --> 00:08:15.630 My middle brother, he, was into business. 00:08:15.630 --> 00:08:42.494 He actually has gone into a similar field as my father, not the exact same business, but he's kind of keeping that family mantra of working in the lumber industry still going to this day and he lives at a home that's still on our family property, and so that provides me some peace of mind, at least when I'm here in New Hampshire and my parents are still wonderful and still alive and working today down in central Kentucky. 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:43.943 Well, that was going to be my question. 00:08:43.943 --> 00:08:44.788 Is anybody still? 00:08:53.100 --> 00:08:53.841 you know, working the farm they are. 00:08:53.841 --> 00:08:57.908 So when I grew up we had my father had he was partial to black Angus cattle, so all his cattle were solid black. 00:08:57.908 --> 00:09:12.956 Okay, and I remember I was thinking I was in third or fourth grade, I had to we went on the back porch and we talked about what it would be like for me to contribute to the farm but also to start making a little money off the farm. 00:09:12.956 --> 00:09:15.105 And so we came up with a contract. 00:09:15.105 --> 00:09:18.283 Okay, it was a written contract, just you and your dad. 00:09:18.482 --> 00:09:19.624 Yes, so, he's serious. 00:09:19.803 --> 00:09:21.206 He's very serious, very serious. 00:09:21.206 --> 00:09:34.663 So I had to feed the cattle and I had to help when it was time to harvest hay, put it up and drive the tractor and, such as a child, that's hard work. 00:09:34.663 --> 00:09:38.427 And he would allow me in this contract to have my own cows. 00:09:38.427 --> 00:09:44.695 So I initially went out and I got white cows, I got Charolais cows, I'm sure he loved that. 00:09:44.695 --> 00:09:53.923 Well, I look, I love my father, but I you know, and I I trust him, but I wanted to verify. 00:09:53.945 --> 00:09:55.246 I knew which were my cows and which were his cows. 00:09:55.268 --> 00:09:55.769 That is funny, so I. 00:09:55.769 --> 00:10:01.765 So I got a few white calves and I raised them up by bottle and then they kind of joined the larger herd. 00:10:02.206 --> 00:10:07.312 At any point did the cows co-mingle and did there end up being like Oreo cookie cows or anything? 00:10:08.674 --> 00:10:08.916 No. 00:10:08.916 --> 00:10:16.857 So we always would bring in and barter with neighbors for access to a bull to come. 00:10:17.299 --> 00:10:18.692 Okay, so you only had heifers? 00:10:18.692 --> 00:10:19.419 Oh, it was only cows. 00:10:19.419 --> 00:10:21.708 I only had heifers, oh, okay. 00:10:22.264 --> 00:10:23.360 So through the years, Impressive. 00:10:23.422 --> 00:10:23.984 I know that term. 00:10:23.984 --> 00:10:24.586 Huh Right, right. 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:26.240 Exactly had heifers, oh, okay. 00:10:26.260 --> 00:10:27.522 Impressive. 00:10:27.522 --> 00:10:28.243 I know that term huh Right. 00:10:28.243 --> 00:10:29.063 Exactly. 00:10:29.063 --> 00:10:30.203 Good, tom, no. 00:10:30.203 --> 00:10:33.667 So through the years I grew my own herd. 00:10:33.667 --> 00:10:37.910 My cows grew up to be full-grown and then they had their own calves. 00:10:37.910 --> 00:10:46.157 When they had bull calves that we would turn into steer calves, we would raise them up and we would sell them off for beef cattle. 00:10:46.437 --> 00:10:46.677 Okay. 00:10:47.461 --> 00:10:57.371 And then we would cap the female calves, and then I grew my herd that way, and so when I became 16 years of age, I sold all my cattle. 00:10:58.461 --> 00:10:59.768 How many are we talking about here? 00:11:00.200 --> 00:11:01.566 It was enough for me to buy a truck. 00:11:01.986 --> 00:11:05.804 Okay, I was going to say I was thinking like maybe a software company, but no, not that much. 00:11:06.708 --> 00:11:07.312 Not in those years. 00:11:07.312 --> 00:11:09.227 Maybe beef cattle today would be that much. 00:11:09.227 --> 00:11:10.884 Beef prices are way up. 00:11:10.884 --> 00:11:20.871 But so no, I sold my calves and you know, and I worked at the sawmill and I never received any financial help from my parents to go to college. 00:11:20.871 --> 00:11:24.451 I kind of worked on my own and applied for scholarships all the way through. 00:11:24.451 --> 00:11:28.462 And certainly, to go to college, I kind of worked on my own and applied for scholarships all the way through and, of course, certainly took out loans and paid back medical school eventually. 00:11:28.899 --> 00:11:29.581 Wow, good for you. 00:11:29.581 --> 00:11:35.701 And then back to the cows, though, or the Angus and the I forget the Charlemagne or Charle, charle, charle. 00:11:35.701 --> 00:11:37.005 So do you have a preference? 00:11:37.005 --> 00:11:39.581 I know so fancy Well. 00:11:39.620 --> 00:11:46.945 I think the Angus cows are very popular because they're very stocky, beefy, they put on weight quickly and muscle mass. 00:11:46.945 --> 00:11:50.748 So I think for a beef cattle farmer those are the preferred ones. 00:11:50.748 --> 00:11:54.029 My Charolais were not so that much and my father. 00:11:54.029 --> 00:11:55.030 Since that time he's switched. 00:11:55.030 --> 00:12:01.355 I don't know why but he's switched to registered red Angus and he actually gets a magazine in the mail. 00:12:01.355 --> 00:12:04.996 It's something like American red Angus and six pictures of

cows. 00:12:05.437 --> 00:12:05.897 That's great. 00:12:05.897 --> 00:12:13.302 So then you decided. 00:12:13.302 --> 00:12:17.279 So you obviously developed this fascination and this love for science and you were applying to schools and you said we'll stay pretty close. 00:12:17.539 --> 00:12:22.581 Went to the University of Kentucky, oh the archenemy Went to the University of Louisville. 00:12:22.701 --> 00:12:23.121 Louisville. 00:12:23.121 --> 00:12:26.846 Oh my God, cardinals, yeah, okay, the arch enemy Went to the University of Louisville, louisville, oh my God. 00:12:27.729 --> 00:12:30.131 Cardinals, yeah, okay, no, I mean, look, this is. 00:12:30.131 --> 00:12:39.179 I grew up in an environment that was a huge undertaking yeah, an exciting undertaking to go off to our largest city in the state and to go off to college. 00:12:39.179 --> 00:12:49.154 And I actually applied for a scholarship that required us, the scholarship recipients, to at least minor. 00:12:49.154 --> 00:12:52.107 We could major, but we had to at least minor in political science. 00:12:52.107 --> 00:12:53.110 Oh, get out. 00:12:53.299 --> 00:13:23.835 Yeah, so I was a biology major with a political science minor pursuing not purposefully but, I think, naturally trying to bridge my desire and love for science and biology with understanding how there's impacts around community and there's political aspects around what makes a community happy and healthy. 00:13:24.019 --> 00:13:35.072 Yeah, it also makes you a more attractive candidate for med school, right, I remember, because I originally wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon, but when I went to college I majored in politics and just went pre-med. 00:13:35.072 --> 00:13:37.749 But then I realized I hated chemistry and hence why I'm here today. 00:13:37.749 --> 00:13:40.708 But it does make you an attractive candidate, right. 00:13:41.660 --> 00:13:43.187 Well, it probably did. 00:13:43.187 --> 00:13:44.186 You know you have to. 00:13:44.186 --> 00:13:56.692 I think medical schools look for someone interesting and maybe not so completely into just the science, without understanding the larger reason why you're interested in that. 00:13:56.692 --> 00:14:00.322 Yeah, but I wasn't thinking in those terms at that time. 00:14:00.322 --> 00:14:04.173 I was thinking this is just what's interesting, yeah, and a requirement. 00:14:04.173 --> 00:14:07.326 Time I was thinking this is just what's interesting, yeah, and a requirement. 00:14:07.326 --> 00:14:08.769 And a requirement to be able to finance college, yeah. 00:14:08.791 --> 00:14:11.820 So then you, where did you do get your MD? 00:14:11.820 --> 00:14:11.940 What? 00:14:14.607 --> 00:14:14.868 school. 00:14:14.868 --> 00:14:19.181 The same school, but I actually didn't go straight from undergraduate college to medical school. 00:14:19.301 --> 00:14:19.541 Okay. 00:14:21.544 --> 00:14:25.953 Throughout my undergraduate years I took part in that scholarship program. 00:14:27.240

--> 00:14:41.514 It was founded by, and the funding was not provided by, but fundraised by, the Kentucky's US Senator still to this day US Senator Mitch McConnell. 00:14:41.514 --> 00:14:46.104 Oh yeah, so it was called the McConnell Scholarship for Political Leadership, us Senator Mitch McConnell. 00:14:46.104 --> 00:14:48.767 Oh yeah, so it was called the McConnell Scholarship for Political Leadership. 00:14:48.767 --> 00:14:56.995 And so through that program we had exposure to it was a completely nonpartisan program but we had exposure to international and national political leaders. 00:14:56.995 --> 00:15:11.370 We tried to recreate for you know, students in Kentucky who don't really have a lot of opportunities that in the Northeast may have at big-name schools and Ivy League colleges where you have that natural exposure to leaders. 00:15:11.370 --> 00:15:19.293 I think what Senator McConnell tried to do is recreate something of that experience in a state that doesn't typically have that type of experience. 00:15:19.293 --> 00:15:41.635 And so I was able to have a lot of those experiences, studying political leadership, reading a lot of the great works, the great books, and so it really, I guess, struck a chord in me to pursue something a little different than going straight on to medical school. 00:15:42.081 --> 00:15:43.404 And was that when you were able to travel? 00:15:44.167 --> 00:16:11.317 Yes, yes, through my undergraduate years I had that experience where I knew what life was like in central Kentucky and how I could see how lifestyle and factors, sometimes beyond your control, impacted whether you were healthy or not, or whether the community was healthy or not, or impacted poverty levels or your ability of a community to be more prosperous. 00:16:11.317 --> 00:16:14.225 But I didn't have that much worldwide experience. 00:16:14.225 --> 00:16:38.985 I never traveled abroad and so, through college, every single time there was an opportunity at the university to pursue some type of study abroad or a specialized honors program type of travel experience or course I tried to jump on it, and so I had some unique opportunities that really broadened my horizon beyond central Kentucky. 00:16:38.985 --> 00:16:49.654 A few of those were there was an opportunity to study again the science in South America. 00:16:49.654 --> 00:16:56.273 So in the biology program I pursued this program that allowed me to travel to the Galapagos Islands. 00:16:56.273 --> 00:17:05.773 Oh, my goodness, the giant tortoises and the different islands that Charles Darwin had, the voyage of the beagle that traveled around. 00:17:05.773 --> 00:17:07.325 Yeah, did you see any sharks? 00:17:07.325 --> 00:17:09.240 Yes, I actually swam with the hammerhead sharks. 00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:12.585 Oh, we're going to get to the sharks, because you know I'm a shark nut. 00:17:12.585 --> 00:17:13.165 Oh, you love sharks. 00:17:13.165 --> 00:17:13.768 Oh, me too. 00:17:13.768 --> 00:17:15.132 Yeah, I'm petrified of them, yeah. 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:16.506 They eat people, but go on. 00:17:16.506 --> 00:17:26.720 You swam with them and lived, to tell the tale that experience? 00:17:26.740 --> 00:17:32.048 That was a very science-y experience, but you know got to witness a little bit of history in real life. 00:17:32.048 --> 00:17:33.790 Then other opportunities were amazing. 00:17:33.790 --> 00:17:36.654 I wanted to. 00:17:36.654 --> 00:17:52.327 There was a program with our sister city of Louisville into our sister city in Africa, into our sister city in Africa the sister city was called Tamale in Ghana and northern Ghana at the time was having lots of turmoil. 00:17:52.327 --> 00:18:08.891 We were also in the midst of the worldwide spread of HIV and AIDS and the United States at the time invested heavily into PEPFAR, the program to provide financial support. 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:10.747 It's a big legacy of President Bush. 00:18:10.946 --> 00:18:14.339 It was, and so I traveled to one of those communities. 00:18:14.339 --> 00:18:32.262 I visited and worked a little bit at an orphanage that took care of children with HIV and AIDS and was welcomed there by the chief of the town, and we stayed with the local chief, or the chief was named Zosimile Na. 00:18:32.262 --> 00:18:43.953 The kingdom of Dagbon Dagbon was the kingdom in northern Ghana, oh wow, and so I had that experience totally outside of my realm, but, you know, seeing those health impacts on a firsthand basis. 00:18:43.953 --> 00:18:50.377 You know it really writ large what I experienced in rural Kentucky in a different degree. 00:18:50.377 --> 00:18:53.846 You know. 00:18:53.846 --> 00:19:01.217 I had other opportunities at the time, though, than to see what almost the extreme opposite of that was. 00:19:01.217 --> 00:19:23.558 I had experience in traveling abroad, to Oxford University in England, studying political philosophy, political thought, and saw how so much world order and totally different experience. 00:19:23.845 --> 00:19:27.836 Yeah, and is that where you got your master's too, in epidemiology? 00:19:28.484 --> 00:19:39.798 Well, I wanted to go on to medical school and I applied to medical school, yeah, but I didn't think that it was exactly what I wanted to do, just go straight into medical school. 00:19:39.798 --> 00:19:56.755 I wanted to have a little bit more understanding of what causes diseases beyond just the diseases themselves, and so that's when I pursued a career, a degree in epidemiology, and I guess people these days know what epidemiologists are. 00:19:57.766 --> 00:19:58.609 But explain it please. 00:19:59.205 --> 00:20:00.431 Post-2020,. 00:20:00.451 --> 00:20:00.792 I think yeah. 00:20:01.626 --> 00:20:06.976 But not in those days and let me try to explain this to my family that I was deferring medical school. 00:20:08.450 --> 00:20:09.715 To be this big word of like. 00:20:09.715 --> 00:20:10.319 What is that? 00:20:10.404 -->

00:20:12.953 I thought it was something with skin or bugs Makes sense. 00:20:13.224 --> 00:20:31.098 No, it wasn't epidermis or entomology, it was epidemiology and it's the study of diseases, the prevention of diseases both chronic diseases and infectious diseases and injuries and how to prevent them. 00:20:32.244 --> 00:20:48.045 And so I think that experience, originally going to the Galapagos and seeing Charles Darwin I started learning about this university in England, cambridge University, and it was at the time one of the and still is to this day, one of the epicenters for epidemiology. 00:20:48.045 --> 00:21:13.839 And so I was encouraged at the undergraduate university to pursue a scholarship and I was able to receive a scholarship to go to Cambridge University and study epidemiology, get a master's degree and really understand how to conduct a scientific study, how to evaluate them, how to understand what can help make a community healthy or not healthy. 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:18.316 So I had this really larger perspective than myself entering into medical school. 00:21:18.316 --> 00:21:22.932 So I think that really larger, larger perspective than myself, uh, entering into medical school, so I think that really gave me a leg up. 00:21:22.932 --> 00:21:31.057 So after that I came on back to back to the University of Louisville where I did medical school and then so you did your medical school there. 00:21:31.076 --> 00:21:36.680 Now you had to do a residency, right, yes, and you did that well, that's what. 00:21:37.221 --> 00:21:39.106 That's what brought me to New Hampshire, that's what brought you to New Hampshire. 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:40.118 Okay, that's what brought you to New Hampshire. 00:21:40.118 --> 00:21:41.615 Okay, I know there was a little bit of a detour. 00:21:41.615 --> 00:21:43.618 We'll go back there, it's fine. 00:21:43.618 --> 00:21:47.193 Well, no, because you went to Hawaii too right, didn't you do some work? 00:21:48.345 --> 00:21:50.205 Well, that was in residency actually. 00:21:50.346 --> 00:21:50.846 Okay. 00:21:50.946 --> 00:21:51.807 Through Dartmouth. 00:21:51.906 --> 00:21:52.907 So where haven't you been? 00:21:52.907 --> 00:21:54.009 Should we just pull out a? 00:21:54.048 --> 00:21:54.469 map. 00:21:54.469 --> 00:21:55.489 I was not here. 00:21:55.489 --> 00:21:58.932 That's probably why I asked your question. 00:21:58.932 --> 00:22:13.440 It's interesting Growing up and never going too many places in the environment I grew up in and then, all of a sudden, having my horizon so broadened, it was a big juxtaposition for me. 00:22:13.460 --> 00:22:13.759 Yeah. 00:22:13.759 --> 00:22:18.103 So you came to New Hampshire for part of your residency, and that was up at Dartmouth. 00:22:20.164 --> 00:22:22.170 It was an interesting program. 00:22:22.170 --> 00:22:48.088 So in New Hampshire I'm not sure individuals are aware of this too much, but we have at Dartmouth College and Dartmouth Health there is a residency called the Leadership Preventive Medicine Residency and that is a residency program that creates a specialist of people called preventive medicine doctors and they typically a residency program that creates a specialist of people called preventive medicine doctors and they typically work in public health and it's one of the recognized specialties. 00:22:48.088 --> 00:22:59.837 But what was unique was there is a combined family medicine and preventive medicine residency through Dartmouth and a partnership with actually Concord Hospital in our state capital. 00:22:59.837 --> 00:23:06.751 So I did the combined family medicine and preventive medicine program and I was based in Concord, new Hampshire. 00:23:06.751 --> 00:23:21.467 Okay, and you know I wanted to be a full-blown doctor that you know could take care of all ages children, persons who are pregnant, women Sounds like a town doctor. 00:23:21.467 --> 00:23:26.089 I wanted that experience, I wanted to be, you know, I wanted, I thought that would feel like a doctor, you know, not just yeah, I can take care of the. 00:23:26.250 --> 00:23:37.326 I only you know well, there's a body travel around with your black bag and yes, uh but, our babies yeah, did that, yes, and so I wanted to have that skill set and knowledge. 00:23:37.406 --> 00:23:51.553 I felt it, but at the same, I really wanted to be a doctor for a population of people, helping larger numbers of individuals have the care that they need, and it's sort of really what I do today. 00:23:53.605 --> 00:23:57.155 So then you wrap that up and then you went back down to Kentucky. 00:23:57.155 --> 00:24:01.055 So I'm curious, because I know you met your wife at some point in New Hampshire. 00:24:01.075 --> 00:24:01.316 That's right. 00:24:01.644 --> 00:24:06.855 And I mean I might be jumping out on a limb here, but maybe that's part of what brought you back. 00:24:06.855 --> 00:24:08.138 Or did you come back and then meet her? 00:24:08.285 --> 00:24:09.451 Oh, it's all factors in life. 00:24:09.451 --> 00:24:10.792 Everything is combined. 00:24:10.894 --> 00:24:12.565 It's all women, it's all together. 00:24:12.565 --> 00:24:13.905 Let's bring it back to the women, yeah. 00:24:14.287 --> 00:24:14.807 Yeah, yeah. 00:24:14.807 --> 00:24:19.750 So while I was in residency here in Concord, New Hampshire, I met my wife. 00:24:19.750 --> 00:24:23.454 She was an attorney practicing here in Concord. 00:24:23.454 --> 00:24:31.281 She got out of law school, I think during the big recession and around 08. 00:24:31.281 --> 00:24:42.339 Okay, and after that one of the areas of law that was still okay was the practice of bankruptcy, Yep. 00:24:42.339 --> 00:24:56.535 And so she got out of law school in Boston and found this job here in Concord, New Hampshire, and came here and I came here for my residency and the stars aligned. 00:24:56.904 --> 00:24:58.348 And so we met each other here. 00:24:58.348 --> 00:25:00.134 How did you meet? 00:25:00.134

--> 00:25:01.196 How did we meet? 00:25:01.196 --> 00:25:07.590 Oh, I think we were just connected by a mutual friend or something I can't even remember exactly. 00:25:07.590 --> 00:25:14.125 And then we had our first date at the Beloco Burritos, oh yeah. 00:25:14.345 --> 00:25:15.328 That doesn't exist anymore. 00:25:15.328 --> 00:25:16.311 No, but I remember it. 00:25:16.311 --> 00:25:16.773 It was good. 00:25:16.773 --> 00:25:20.211 Yeah, that's over on Fort Eddy it is. 00:25:20.211 --> 00:25:20.933 Is that where it was? 00:25:20.933 --> 00:25:22.166 That's right, actually, it's Fort. 00:25:22.228 --> 00:25:22.809 Tiffany Eddy. 00:25:22.809 --> 00:25:23.692 It's Fort Tiffany Eddy. 00:25:23.712 --> 00:25:27.849 It's really funny we originally were going to go to Starbucks, no Panera. 00:25:27.849 --> 00:25:36.557 We were originally going to Panera and we showed up at Pan can we do this? 00:25:36.557 --> 00:25:45.491 So we got both in our cars and agreed that we were going to go do a U-turn and go down to get the Mexican burrito, and I think we both loved it. 00:25:45.491 --> 00:25:48.453 I think that was the connection at first. 00:25:48.645 --> 00:25:51.218 It was like oh, we both love Mexican food and good food. 00:25:51.258 --> 00:25:51.499 Yeah. 00:25:52.142 --> 00:25:52.704 No, that's great. 00:25:52.704 --> 00:25:53.789 So you met. 00:25:53.789 --> 00:25:54.506 Did you get married here? 00:25:54.506 --> 00:25:55.046 Did you get married here? 00:25:55.046 --> 00:25:57.288 Did you get married in Kentucky, or does she have? 00:25:57.630 --> 00:25:59.332 somewhere we got married. 00:25:59.332 --> 00:26:05.460 So her family is from northern Massachusetts in the Lowell Mass area. 00:26:05.460 --> 00:26:12.634 And her undergraduate college was Merrimack College and we got married in the Merrimack College Chapel. 00:26:12.855 --> 00:26:13.096 Oh yeah. 00:26:13.395 --> 00:26:13.938 Oh, yeah, yeah. 00:26:13.938 --> 00:26:17.594 And then you know how do you know that we had true love. 00:26:17.594 --> 00:26:29.884 When we moved to Kentucky, my first job out of residency I took over a job as the medical director for family medicine, especially at the University of Kentucky. 00:26:29.884 --> 00:26:32.314 So we did switch and go to the Army. 00:26:32.314 --> 00:26:43.680 She retook the entire bar exam to be able to be licensed to practice law in Kentucky. 00:26:44.749 --> 00:26:45.571 That is true love. 00:26:47.326 --> 00:26:49.294 I thought so yeah. 00:26:49.554 --> 00:26:49.915 Oh, go ahead. 00:26:50.144 --> 00:26:50.886 No, I was just so. 00:26:50.886 --> 00:26:57.413 Now you're back in Kentucky with your New England bride, your northern bride, so how did she do down there? 00:26:57.413 --> 00:26:58.671 And then, what brought you back up? 00:26:59.025 --> 00:27:00.789 She thrived, I thrived too. 00:27:00.789 --> 00:27:01.732 We had a great time. 00:27:01.732 --> 00:27:11.837 We were living in Lexington a different culture than the big city of Louisville, a little more rural and definitely a thicker accent there. 00:27:11.837 --> 00:27:15.740 Yeah, did you get any cows sent there, did you? 00:27:15.740 --> 00:27:16.181 Get any cows? 00:27:16.181 --> 00:27:27.614 No, but we did buy a home that had a wooden plank fence that backed up to horse farms in the area. 00:27:27.634 --> 00:27:28.035 That's cool. 00:27:28.846 --> 00:27:29.970 We were living in. 00:27:29.970 --> 00:27:35.974 Eventually, the town was called Please forgive me the town was called Versailles. 00:27:35.974 --> 00:27:38.417 Spelled the same as Versailles. 00:27:38.417 --> 00:27:39.336 I can say the word for you was called Versailles, versailles. 00:27:39.269 --> 00:27:39.467 Spelled the same as. 00:27:39.398 --> 00:27:43.413 Versailles, yeah, and I can say the word for you it's Versailles. 00:27:44.788 --> 00:27:45.830 I can turn on my mic, yeah. 00:27:47.646 --> 00:27:54.478 But we loved it and you know that was considered the horse capital of the world, where all the thoroughbred horses a lot of them, are. 00:27:54.765 --> 00:27:55.888 Oh, that must have been incredible. 00:27:56.089 --> 00:27:59.712 Beautiful area and I loved it. 00:27:59.712 --> 00:28:11.904 I enjoyed that work and I was transitioned over a few years later, kind of recruited over, still employee at the university but went over to work in state government. 00:28:11.904 --> 00:28:14.108 So that was my first taste of state government. 00:28:14.108 --> 00:28:51.756 Work was in Kentucky when I became the state epidemiologist for Kentucky and this was at the height of well, at least for Kentucky, including New Hampshire too, at the time, because we were early states to be faced with the opioid epidemic and so we had a lot of ramifications from the opioid epidemic, including outbreaks of hepatitis A, hepatitis C, hiv outbreaks, and in my job I was responsible for those disease investigations and trying to come up with mitigation techniques and how do we bring those outbreaks under control? 00:28:51.756 --> 00:28:52.729 Yeah, so that's what I did at the time. 00:28:52.729 --> 00:28:53.732 So how long were you in Kentucky? 00:28:53.732 --> 00:28:54.979 That's what I did at the time. 00:28:54.979 --> 00:28:59.426 So how long were you in Kentucky? 00:28:59.426 --> 00:29:00.748 Oh, it was about five years. 00:29:01.108 --> 00:29:02.088 Five years, okay. 00:29:02.088 --> 00:29:04.912 And then were you recruited to New Hampshire. 00:29:04.912 --> 00:29:08.115 Did your wife make the decision that you're coming back? 00:29:08.714 --> 00:29:15.260 Well, we were blessed with our first child in 2016. 00:29:15.260 --> 00:29:16.922 Congratulations, thank you. 00:29:16.922 --> 00:29:20.991 Thank you, yeah, thank you. 00:29:20.991 --> 00:29:34.309 Um and uh, you know, working away and new father and relatively new husband at the time and, um, we came up with some really unique ways to approach the opioid epidemic. 00:29:34.309 --> 00:29:44.628 We had some mobile overdose

prevention units and different approaches, and I was asked to come up to New England. 00:29:44.628 --> 00:29:53.705 I was asked to present at a lecture at Harvard College about what we were doing in Kentucky. 00:29:53.705 --> 00:30:17.089 You know some unique aspects and when I was that and at the time, the commissioner of health and human services here in New Hampshire was Commissioner Jeffrey Myers he attended that little mini conference, a summit, because I think it was a summit that they organized to think about best strategies, strategies that were working in some of the states that were hardest affected. 00:30:17.130 --> 00:30:17.550 Back in. 00:30:17.550 --> 00:30:22.799 This would have been about 2017, going into 2018. 00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:33.334 And I struck conversation with him and the position was open at the time. 00:30:33.334 --> 00:30:45.688 For the current position, I have the chief medical officer position and my wife was from this area with a new child and you know the stars aligned again and it just made a good fit. 00:30:45.688 --> 00:30:47.732 I love New Hampshire, you know. 00:30:47.732 --> 00:30:57.356 I loved Kentucky too, and I still love both places, but I felt like I could make a real difference in this position, and I think it was great for our young family as well. 00:30:57.356 --> 00:31:02.251 My wife's parents are a lot younger than my parents and I think that was a factor too. 00:31:03.513 --> 00:31:10.655 So and and if you had to like, as far as how it impacts like your, your, your family's life, biggest differences. 00:31:10.655 --> 00:31:16.747 I mean, obviously I know there's some obvious ones, but biggest differences between raising your kids here versus raising your kids down there. 00:31:17.911 --> 00:31:19.655 Well, I think education is a little different. 00:31:19.655 --> 00:31:51.536 Where I grew up there was really not a lot of educational choices and I think we were also in a very rural environment, which I loved, but wide open spaces and the travel distances obviously are much further to go anywhere compared to new england you know you can pop in to have resources and, and you know, go to museums or have events and such um. 00:31:52.518 --> 00:31:53.646 You know there's lots of differences. 00:31:53.646 --> 00:31:58.224 I don't think we made that choice consciously at that time for any of those reasons. 00:31:58.224 --> 00:32:16.919 But I know today that my children are very happy, they're healthy and growing, and so I think that you know New Hampshire is particularly a great place for kids and we see that on, you know on rankings and consistently, that child welfare in New Hampshire is among the best in the country. 00:32:16.919 --> 00:32:21.434 So I knew that and so I knew that they would get great educations here. 00:32:21.434 --> 00:32:25.836 It wasn't that I was leaving anything badly, but it was a good fit. 00:32:26.305 --> 00:32:32.991 Yeah, you're just growing as a professional, and your wife

didn't have to retake the bar, that's also an added benefit, right? 00:32:33.031 --> 00:32:33.574 Good bonus. 00:32:33.574 --> 00:32:34.794 It's not like you're moving to. 00:32:34.835 --> 00:32:35.179 Michigan. 00:32:35.179 --> 00:32:40.596 Right, this was obviously a conversation that you know is mutual. 00:32:41.306 --> 00:32:42.310 It wasn't my decision. 00:32:42.946 --> 00:32:48.015 We came to decisions together, and I think that's important in life when you're a partnership. 00:32:48.455 --> 00:32:49.809 Yeah, and you thought where can I surf? 00:32:50.826 --> 00:32:51.648 I was just going there. 00:32:51.730 --> 00:32:52.692 The surfing part. 00:32:54.105 --> 00:32:57.296 So it kind of ties all the way back around to sharks. 00:32:57.296 --> 00:33:00.835 But, how does a guy from Kentucky learn how to surf? 00:33:00.835 --> 00:33:02.890 I mean, was it here? 00:33:02.890 --> 00:33:03.392 Was it there? 00:33:03.392 --> 00:33:05.192 Do you think about the sharks when you're in the water? 00:33:06.645 --> 00:33:14.011 So when I was in family medicine residency, you have to do a certain number of electives you're required to that are not in your program. 00:33:14.011 --> 00:33:19.170 You go out somewhere in the country and have an experience that's totally different than what you do normally every day. 00:33:19.170 --> 00:33:30.112 I had some family that lived in Hawaii and there was a native Hawaiian health clinic at one of those fairly qualified health centers. 00:33:30.112 --> 00:33:54.800 That was happened to be at a really beautiful beach on the island of Oahu, on the opposite side from Honolulu and near where my family lived at, and so I contacted the clinic director and said can I come out and do my required rotation at your clinic and learn about what is it like to take care of native Hawaiians? 00:33:54.800 --> 00:34:05.875 Yeah, and so it did align that it happened to be beautiful surfing, so I learned there. 00:34:06.155 --> 00:34:06.636 Are you good? 00:34:07.405 --> 00:34:09.420 No, I'm not good, but I can get up. 00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:13.755 You can get up on the board, I can get up and I can ride all the way in and have a good time. 00:34:16.289 --> 00:34:24.335 I don't want to go, take too much risk, so I did that in Hawaii during my rotation and then I came back to New Hampshire and then I was really hooked by that point. 00:34:24.335 --> 00:34:25.538 Yeah, how long were you in Hawaii? 00:34:26.385 --> 00:34:32.789 Oh, it was a few months or so A few months, ok, not a really long time, but enough to get a few sessions in yeah, enough to get you hooked. 00:34:34.005 --> 00:34:35.753 Yeah, if I wasn't working there, I was surfing. 00:34:35.753 --> 00:34:41.295 Yeah, get you yeah yeah, if I wasn't working there, I was surfing, yeah, and so I came back here and obviously it turned out New Hampshire has wonderful surfing. 00:34:41.295 --> 00:34:42.699 Is it that good? 00:34:42.699 --> 00:34:45.126 It's really good, especially compared to Hawaii. 00:34:45.168 --> 00:34:50.547 I mean, you have to wear a wetsuit, it's frigid and you look like a seal when you put on those black wetsuits. 00:34:50.547 --> 00:34:54.990 I mean you just yeah, it's like ringing the Digger bell isn't it? 00:34:55.190 --> 00:34:57.652 Yes, it is so. 00:34:57.652 --> 00:35:08.864 For the years after that, and even to this day, I love going over to Genest Beach renting a wetsuit from Summer Sessions or any of those other places through there. 00:35:09.063 --> 00:35:18.105 Cinnamon rainbows Grabbing a board and going out, I like to take something called the inside waves out. 00:35:18.105 --> 00:35:20.271 Now I'm, I like to take something called the inside waves. 00:35:20.271 --> 00:35:40.552 So there are, we call it the green waves, which are the big waves a little further out, where there's more current, uh, more sharks, more sharks, especially in, you know, new england, um and I, but I like to ride the inside waves just enough, where I, you know, see the wave pop up on ride 100 feet or so get back down and sort of just walk myself back out instead of having to. 00:35:40.572 --> 00:35:41.974 You know, I've got short arms. 00:35:41.974 --> 00:35:45.829 It's really hard to paddle and so anytime I can take a. 00:35:45.829 --> 00:35:51.809 You know, if we go on a trip somewhere where there happens to be a beach, you know I'll try to rent a surfboard and get on the waves. 00:35:52.231 --> 00:35:52.652 That's awesome. 00:35:52.652 --> 00:35:56.498 I love Genesee Beach too, but I don't do the surfing that's too dangerous for me. 00:35:56.518 --> 00:35:57.940 This is Tom on Genes Beach. 00:35:59.365 --> 00:35:59.726 Yeah. 00:35:59.746 --> 00:36:00.608 Catching sun rays. 00:36:01.648 --> 00:36:05.713 Right, but New Hampshire look, we can go to the beach here in central New Hampshire. 00:36:05.713 --> 00:36:12.860 We can go to the beach, we can go to the mountains, go to big city Boston, go over experience, vermont all in an hour's time. 00:36:12.860 --> 00:36:14.623 That's a really unique experience. 00:36:14.684 --> 00:36:21.172 It's so true and I always say this about like why New Hampshire is so great for the first in the nation primary not to get into politics. 00:36:21.172 --> 00:36:24.938 But you know, you fly into Manchester, you're an hour's distance. 00:36:24.938 --> 00:36:26.420 You know from everything. 00:36:26.420 --> 00:36:28.208 Right, you can be the lakes in an hour. 00:36:28.208 --> 00:36:30.574 You can be on the seacoast in an hour. 00:36:30.574 --> 00:36:35.751 You can be down on the border of Massachusetts in an hour, over Keene in the border of Vermont in an hour. 00:36:35.751 --> 00:36:39.699 It's really I love central New Hampshire. 00:36:39.918 --> 00:36:40.460 I think it's great. 00:36:40.460 --> 00:36:47.514 Yeah, and we have one media market and a candidate can go all the way across the state in less than a day and meet all sorts of different potential voters. 00:36:47.514 -->

00:36:49.010 It is a magical place. 00:36:49.351 --> 00:36:49.932 It really is. 00:36:49.932 --> 00:36:54.115 I mean, the opportunities really are endless for outdoor activities. 00:36:54.115 --> 00:36:55.686 If you're an outdoors enthusiast, I mean, really, is there a better place? 00:36:55.686 --> 00:36:56.648 I really are endless for outdoor activities. 00:36:56.648 --> 00:36:58.289 If you're an outdoors enthusiast, I mean, really, is there a better place? 00:36:58.289 --> 00:36:58.329 I? 00:36:58.349 --> 00:36:58.630 don't think so. 00:36:58.630 --> 00:37:04.898 Well, I did want to get into that because I mean, obviously you've been through like everywhere I feel like. 00:37:04.898 --> 00:37:11.467 But you know, and you have a lot of work being the state's chief medical officer. 00:37:11.467 --> 00:37:12.188 I'm sure that's not an easy job. 00:37:12.188 --> 00:37:19.050 We were talking earlier how, like you know, there is no do not disturb button on your phone, right, because you're probably on call all the time and that's also part of being a doctor. 00:37:19.050 --> 00:37:21.612 But what else do you do for fun? 00:37:21.612 --> 00:37:22.809 I mean you've got two young kids. 00:37:22.809 --> 00:37:24.351 You're probably teaching soccer. 00:37:25.045 --> 00:37:26.208 Yeah, well, I try to be. 00:37:26.208 --> 00:37:28.755 That's my really outside of my job. 00:37:28.755 --> 00:37:41.775 That's really job number one is being a dad to my two children and a good husband, and so I try to integrate what I do for fun into family activities. 00:37:41.994 --> 00:37:42.976 Yeah makes sense. 00:37:43.096 --> 00:37:49.820 I try to, and a few things I do for relaxation, for good mental health. 00:37:49.820 --> 00:37:59.882 For me, personally is, one thing I did initially was I coached my kids soccer, like the classic experience many dads have. 00:37:59.882 --> 00:38:06.775 Now I have a little bit of a truth to tell you, though, so I coached my daughter for a couple of years and I coached my son. 00:38:06.775 --> 00:38:14.472 I sort of had to do that when the original coach didn't start showing up to practices or to the games. 00:38:14.893 --> 00:38:16.016 That's a problem, yeah. 00:38:16.867 --> 00:38:17.490 Well, it's life. 00:38:17.490 --> 00:38:26.592 And so my kids told me one day Daddy, I don't want to play soccer because I already know everything about soccer. 00:38:26.592 --> 00:38:28.471 I was like what do you mean? 00:38:28.471 --> 00:38:32.311 Well, you've taught me everything about soccer, I don't need to do it anymore. 00:38:32.311 --> 00:38:36.286 I'm like what Did? 00:38:36.327 --> 00:38:36.990 you play soccer. 00:38:40.545 --> 00:38:41.246 Yes, I played soccer, soccer. 00:38:41.246 --> 00:38:49.293 I loved it, you know, and I I you know played on the, on the, on the soccer team at cambridge, on the yeah, oh wow, that's real soccer, yeah yes, in england, I loved it. 00:38:49.293 --> 00:38:49.474 I was. 00:38:49.474 --> 00:38:56.313 My nickname was yank yeah that was the you know the football yeah um, I'm like I'm at college there, but anyway. 00:38:56.313 --> 00:38:58.135 Um. 00:38:58.135 --> 00:39:02.784 So I realized, though now I'm not the coach, I'm dad. 00:39:03.105 --> 00:39:03.244 Yeah. 00:39:05.248 --> 00:39:07.791 And I'm a good spectator cheer on no matter what. 00:39:07.791 --> 00:39:10.255 But now my kids are learning a lot more. 00:39:10.255 --> 00:39:12.719 They're not just learning what dad knows. 00:39:12.719 --> 00:39:16.938 I think I'm adjusting to that and it's a life lesson for me. 00:39:16.938 --> 00:39:20.067 Sometimes they have a lot more fun when I back off. 00:39:20.067 --> 00:39:29.769 Other fun things to do is I've just started the last couple of years taking up golf. 00:39:29.769 --> 00:39:30.190 I'm learning. 00:39:30.190 --> 00:39:33.115 Most doctors actually are not golfers these days. 00:39:33.115 --> 00:39:43.838 It seems like that was a cliche back when doctors would be in private practice and close the practice on Friday afternoons and take off to the course Dr. 00:39:43.878 --> 00:39:44.157 Pieper. 00:39:44.425 --> 00:39:46.128 Right, that's not how it is these days. 00:39:46.128 --> 00:39:51.514 Most doctors are employed physicians and I think that contributes a little bit to their burnout. 00:39:51.514 --> 00:39:58.077 Is they don't have necessarily the control over their lives, and so I've learned there's not very many doctors on the course. 00:39:58.077 --> 00:40:05.836 But what I try to do is take my children out with me, and that's how I can get out and have a little bit of downtime. 00:40:05.836 --> 00:40:11.193 Is I'll take one child with me and you know what they do they get to drive the cart. 00:40:13.126 --> 00:40:14.648 It's no tractor, but you know it's close. 00:40:14.648 --> 00:40:14.989 Oh, it's fun. 00:40:14.989 --> 00:40:18.858 It's not a side-by-side, but you know it's fun, it's not a side by side, but in their mind it's a side by side. 00:40:20.045 --> 00:40:29.175 Yeah, and you know, we'll stop a little shy of the green and they'll hit it onto the green and play, and it's a great time for us to bond. 00:40:29.175 --> 00:40:33.760 I'm also secretly having a great time too, because I get to play a round of golf and be outside. 00:40:34.141 --> 00:40:34.340 Yeah. 00:40:34.440 --> 00:40:36.286 Yeah, with your kids, that's awesome. 00:40:36.306 --> 00:40:38.434 Yeah, I think that's where we first met was the golf course. 00:40:38.835 --> 00:40:40.380 Oh, really, you were at a golf course. 00:40:40.942 --> 00:40:41.603 Shocker right. 00:40:41.603 --> 00:40:42.045 Oh my gosh. 00:40:42.045 --> 00:40:44.612 No, dr Ballard and I I think we're in the same Thursday night league. 00:40:45.135 --> 00:40:47.318 Yes, so I'm probably the worst person in the league. 00:40:51.088 --> 00:40:52.588 I have the highest handicap. 00:40:52.608 --> 00:40:53.670 Hey, listen, oh you two, stop it. 00:40:53.670 --> 00:40:56.672 It's all about finding

the right partner, right, I mean that's what it's all about. 00:40:56.831 --> 00:41:07.599 Yes, but I get a handicap, so I get extra points awarded to me, the other thing I find that I enjoy doing and sometimes I'll take my kids with me is just to the local 5K races. 00:41:07.599 --> 00:41:10.101 There are a ton of them in New Hampshire all across the state. 00:41:10.101 --> 00:41:15.628 That is a really accessible sport for individuals. 00:41:15.628 --> 00:41:18.253 You don't have to be competitive or run it. 00:41:18.253 --> 00:41:25.744 You can walk them, but they are just all over the state really all throughout the year. 00:41:26.045 --> 00:41:28.411 And you're fast, so it doesn't take you that long to run it. 00:41:28.411 --> 00:41:38.574 So sometimes I bring my kids with me and they'll run the kids' race beforehand a few hundred yards or longer, and it's a great way for us to get out. 00:41:38.574 --> 00:41:49.615 And it's also you know, there's not it it's very stress relieving to to exert yourself to what is safely within your, you know your abilities so what's uh, your 5k? 00:41:49.635 --> 00:41:49.896 time? 00:41:49.896 --> 00:41:55.873 5k time my best time, my best 5k time, so it was. 00:41:55.893 --> 00:41:58.458 So I ran about 10 races this year. 00:41:58.458 --> 00:41:59.079 That's a lot. 00:41:59.079 --> 00:42:10.239 It was something called the Capital Area Race Series was the bulk of them, and I think my best race was called the Joe Casper Over the River and Through the Woods race. 00:42:10.239 --> 00:42:11.369 It was over. 00:42:11.369 --> 00:42:18.768 First we went over I-93, over the Merrimack River and through the woods in East Concord and back To grandmother's house. 00:42:18.768 --> 00:42:19.710 We go Exactly. 00:42:19.751 --> 00:42:20.976 I think that was the theme. 00:42:22.626 --> 00:42:25.014 And my time was, I think, 21, 27. 00:42:25.233 --> 00:42:25.835 Yeah, that's quick. 00:42:26.164 --> 00:42:27.710 That was my best ever. 00:42:27.931 --> 00:42:28.914 That's impressive. 00:42:28.914 --> 00:42:32.166 I run quick, but it's only because I hate running and I just want to get it over with. 00:42:32.206 --> 00:42:32.847 And there's a beer. 00:42:32.847 --> 00:42:34.148 Someone like dangling a beer Somewhere. 00:42:34.148 --> 00:42:35.309 At the end there's always a beer. 00:42:35.809 --> 00:42:38.271 Well, that first mile, every single race I go through that. 00:42:38.271 --> 00:42:43.157 I don't know if it's cathartic, but that first mile I'm thinking why am I doing this? 00:42:43.157 --> 00:42:45.159 Why am I never going to do this again? 00:42:45.159 --> 00:42:45.960 I'm never going to. 00:42:45.960 --> 00:42:55.536 Then the body starts to relax, the muscles get a little looser. 00:42:55.536 --> 00:42:59.027 Honestly, at the end of the races, when I'm finally feeling good, have you ever thought about? 00:42:59.407 --> 00:43:02.114 going further, like a half marathon or a marathon. 00:43:02.135 --> 00:43:03.277 I'm like everybody else. 00:43:03.277 --> 00:43:09.338 You know we all have developed aches and pains and bad knees and bad back. 00:43:09.545 --> 00:43:10.851 Sleep with a pillow under my legs now. 00:43:10.971 --> 00:43:14.494 Yeah, I think 5K is probably where my safe number is. 00:43:14.494 --> 00:43:17.773 Yeah, limit without being hurt, that's fair. 00:43:18.806 --> 00:43:19.429 But you're young. 00:43:20.244 --> 00:43:20.827 Well, that's. 00:43:22.090 --> 00:43:23.594 And he's a doctor, thank you. 00:43:23.594 --> 00:43:27.989 And he's a doctor, he can fix himself why not, don't treat yourself. 00:43:28.028 --> 00:43:29.193 Make mistakes. 00:43:29.193 --> 00:43:33.516 Is there anything about you that we haven't gotten into that we should know about? 00:43:34.806 --> 00:43:37.597 Well, you know, I just try to do the best I can. 00:43:37.597 --> 00:43:45.639 As you know, a professional represent the field of medicine, as a husband, as a father, you know, a granite stater. 00:43:45.639 --> 00:43:46.385 That's, that's. 00:43:46.385 --> 00:43:52.559 I think that's the essence of what many of us try to do, you know, daily in our lives. 00:43:52.559 --> 00:43:53.485 Yeah, no. 00:43:53.545 --> 00:43:57.753 And I and I know that you do have to get going because you did tell us earlier you do have soccer practice. 00:43:57.753 --> 00:43:59.275 You have to pick your son and drive him to. 00:43:59.275 --> 00:44:02.047 But, um, I just wanted to say you know, thanks. 00:44:02.047 --> 00:44:11.070 I mean it sounds like you really did some great work when you were the state's epidemiologist and uh in Kentucky and obviously led to you being recruited here. 00:44:11.070 --> 00:44:13.092 And I know you've done a lot of great work here. 00:44:13.092 --> 00:44:30.230 I've seen it over at the Statehouse and the way you're willing to collaborate with others right and I think you bring a lot of that rural right, rural health that you talked about and that you really got you kind of jazzed up in the first place in this field, and we have rural parts in New Hampshire. 00:44:30.550 --> 00:44:32.516 So it's important that you bring that here. 00:44:32.516 --> 00:44:38.655 I think it's important for us when we have different opinions on different topics, and certainly in medicine, public health. 00:44:38.655 --> 00:44:46.356 There is room to have different opinions and I think we have to assume best intentions when we approach individuals who have a different opinion. 00:44:46.356 --> 00:44:51.836 That's what I really try to do is understand where you're coming from and try to see it from your lens. 00:44:51.836 --> 00:44:55.994 I think in most situations that's what works, yeah super smart. 00:44:56.135 --> 00:45:10.182 We appreciate that too, because that's kind of I think the basis of the podcast is really getting to know all sorts of different individuals and getting to know them as a human being and understanding them and their motivation, and it's fascinating and I think it's helpful to just get to know who our neighbors are. 00:45:10.362 --> 00:45:11.244 Yeah, absolutely. 00:45:12.704 --> 00:45:14.786 Well, thank you so much for coming on, Dr Ballard. 00:45:14.786 --> 00:45:20.652 It's been a pleasure having you on the podcast and getting to know you, and I do want to get deeper into the shark thing. 00:45:20.713 --> 00:45:24.838 But hear more about the Galapagos and the sharks. 00:45:24.838 --> 00:45:26.398 Tell you all about the animals. 00:45:26.398 --> 00:45:28.422 They don't fear humans there. 00:45:30.226 --> 00:45:38.996 Yeah that's scary, but no, thank you and thanks to everybody for listening to our latest episode of Anything but. 00:45:39.036 --> 00:45:39.197 Politics. 00:45:39.197 --> 00:45:39.780 Thanks so much. 00:45:39.780 --> 00:45:42.715 We really appreciate your time and we've got a lot more coming your way.