Hello

My first post will be just a quick introduction. I am a registered nurse pursuing a Master's degree in Nursing. My BS in Nursing was my second undergraduate degree; it was a one year accelerated program designed for students who wanted to be nurses but who already had four year degrees in other fields. My BA was in the social sciences, and one of the only two science classes I took in college was nicknamed "Sex" by the student body. (The course guide opted for the more discreet title "The Evolution of Human Nature", but it obviously fooled no one.) So transitioning into classes that actually had right and wrong answers was not easy. However, I was lucky enough to take care of my prereqs quickly, and to begin my nursing degree almost exactly a year after finishing undergad.

I was also lucky enough to get into my first choice nursing school: Columbia University. Its medical campus is centered around Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, in the Washington Heights area of New York. A year after starting my degree at Columbia, I finished the bachelor's portion of the program and became a registered nurse. Like most people in my class, I moved on immediately to my Master's in Nursing, which, combined with passing the state's nursing boards, will qualify me to practice as a Nurse Practitioner in New York. I will complete my degree in December 2009.

In addition to nursing , I'm interested in public health, particularly in New York and particularly as it pertains to HIV. I intend for this blog to discuss all three subjects, although the ratio is to be determined. To that end, an interesting study recently came out from the New York Department of Health exploring a link between binge drinking and HIV among MSM. You can download the full study at the end of the press release.