August 24, 2007
The Lucidicus Project is pleased to award its twenty-eighth MISDK today to Alya S., a recent graduate of Upstate Medical University (New York) and currently a first-year resident in Psychiatry at Long Island Jewish Medical Center.  Having been influenced by Ayn Rand's fiction in college, Alya believes strongly in the laissez-faire model. However, as she encounters increasingly complex arguments for socialized medicine, she finds that she needs to bolster her understanding of philosophy and logic, in order to better guide her views for health policy. She is looking forward to gaining some new perspectives from the materials in the kit.

August 23, 2007
The Lucidicus Project is pleased to award its twenty-seventh MISDK today to Kyle E., a third-year medical school at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. Kyle is currently doing his clerkships in Phoenix, and is a proud and active member of the American Medical Association's Medical Student Section (AMA-MSS). As someone who is always looking for new ways to expand his knowledge about medicine, he feels that it is imperative to have a well-rounded perspective and informed view of the profession from a policy standpoint. Kyle is concerned with the erosion of medicine's esteem in recent decades, and would like to discover ways to make a difference.

August 22, 2007
The Lucidicus Project is pleased to award its twenty-sixth MISDK today to Geeta Y., a second-year medical student at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. Geeta has a master's degree in Health Systems, and has also worked abroad on projects such as international development in Malawi. Geeta has been influenced by Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged, but has lingering questions about the philosophic argument against a single-payer health system. She hopes that the materials in the kit will challenge her thinking and clarify her understanding of how healthcare would work in a free society.

August 17, 2007
The Lucidicus Project is pleased to award its twenty-fifth MISDK today to SC Tan, a fourth-year medical student doing his clinical year at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. He is interested to know more about how capitalism works, and how market forces would change the healthcare industry. With his home country of Malaysia in the process of drafting a new national health policy, he is in the process of deciding what the best approach entails: something that resembles the current American system, something that resembles the UK's system that provides cradle-to-grave care, or something completely different, such as a free market system for healthcare.

August 10, 2007
The Lucidicus Project is pleased to award its twenty-fourth MISDK today to Aaron C., a 2000 graduate of Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA. Following medical school, Aaron completed a residency in internal medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, and then did a fellowship in clinical endocrinology at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Most recently, he has taken over a solo endocrine practice in Bethesda, after working for a year in a group practice in Baltimore. Aaron has been an admirer of Ayn Rand's writings since reading Atlas Shrugged in medical school, and is looking forward to reading the other materials in the kit and seeing how the ideas relate to his practice.

August 8, 2007
The Lucidicus Project is pleased to award its twenty-third MISDK today to Matt S., a second-year medical student at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, based out of Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Matt studied electrical engineering before pursuing a career in medicine, a switch he made for the intellectual challenge, portability, and variety offered by the field. In Canada, Matt often sees his country's publicly funded health care at the center of election policies and the subject of heated debates. Unlike many of his colleagues, Matt has remained unsold on the idea of government-run medicine. He is interested in learning more about the case for capitalism, and is especially curious to see how laissez-faire theory handles certain issues such as fraud, quality control, and credentialing.

April 30, 2007
The Lucidicus Project is pleased to award its twenty-second MISDK today to Charles D., a first-year medical student at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. Charles is pursuing a career in family medicine and would like to practice in a rural area someday. He is very interested in learning more about free markets and capitalism and how they would work in the field of medicine. With the major political parties talking more and more about instituting socialized medicine in the United States, Charles believes it is important for him to gain a better understanding of the implications of such a system, and to learn more about other possible systems, such as capitalism.

March 9, 2007
The Lucidicus Project is proud to award its twenty-first MISDK today to Stephen C., an undergraduate student in his senior year at Binghamton University, SUNY. Stephen has already applied and been accepted by the New York College of Medicine, and is currently waiting to hear back from other schools before making a final decision. Whichever location he chooses, he intends to pursue a dual DO/MBA degree if possible, giving him training in both osteopathic medicine and business. He is very interested in learning about medicine from the capitalist perspective, and would like to understand better the political and financial side of medicine.

February 12, 2007
The Lucidicus Project is proud to award its twentieth MISDK today to Gregory S., a fourth-year medical student at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Greg will be entering his general surgery residency in July, after which he has plans to also obtain an MBA, specializing in Health Care Management. He is passionate about changing the face of healthcare in America and constantly looking to understand the reasons why the healthcare is the way it is, and how it can be improved. Greg writes that he greatly appreciates the work of The Lucidicus Project and feels privileged to receive an MISDK.

February 8, 2007
The Lucidicus Project is proud to award its nineteenth MISDK today to Esther J., a first-year medical student at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine (in the tradition of the Medical College of Virginia). Esther is originally from Los Angeles, California, and received her bachelor's degrees in Biology and History from the University of California in San Diego. As a participant in Junior State of America, an organization that fosters political debate among high school students, she learned of the importance of philosophy in politics. She would like to learn more as she progresses through medical school (the faculty of which, she reports, has thus far been quite left-leaning).

January 22, 2007
The Lucidicus Project is proud to award its eighteenth MISDK today to Daniel G., a second year medical student at the University of Miami. Daniel received his undergraduate degree in Anthropology from the University of Florida, where he was active as an advocate for liberty and individual rights. He is very concerned with the prospect of socialized medicine taking root in the United States, and the effect it could have on health, innovation, and economic prosperity. Through the materials contained in the MISDK, Daniel hopes to learn more about the moral and economic case for a capitalist healthcare system.

January 16, 2007
The Lucidicus Project is proud to award its seventeenth MISDK today to Binh L., a first-year doctor of pharmacy student at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. In addition to her interest in healthcare, Binh has also spent a summer studying Political Science at the University of Memphis. She finds the way in which the politics and economics of healthcare are discussed in the United States troubling, and wishes to gain a deeper understanding of what the implications of socialized medicine would be. Binh does not believe that the choice, cost, and quality of healthcare should depend on the actions of the state. Indeed, she views these types of policies as attempts to undermine individual rights and integrity. It is very dangerous, she concurs, for health providers to be blind to these questions and issues.

January 12, 2007
The Lucidicus Project is proud to award its sixteenth MISDK today to Liz D., a first-year medical student at the University of Liverpool, in England. Prior to studying medicine, Liz studied philosophy and ethics for A-level in addition to her science subjects. She chose her current medical school in part because it emphasizes the need for having a good knowledge of how other subjects relate to medicine, including philosophy, ethics, and economics. She views these subjects as complementary to her studies of the basic medical sciences, and indispensible in terms of preparing herself for a life and career as a doctor.

November 28, 2006
The Lucidicus Project is proud to award its fifteenth MISDK today to Patrick F., an undergraduate student at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Patrick is in his junior year and to date has a nearly perfect grade point average as a biochemistry major with a minor in zoology. Upon graduating, he plans to attend medical school, possibly in Iowa as well. Patrick is very interested in the moral and economic aspects of modern medicine and has expressed a keen respect for the goals of The Lucidicus Project.

November 19, 2006
The Lucidicus Project is proud to award its fourteenth MISDK today to David R., a first-year medical student at Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine in East Lansing, Michigan. David spent his undergraduate education studying chemistry, although he has always been interested in resolving the alleged ethical dilemmas posed by the business aspect of medicine. Coming from a liberal arts college, he has had exposure to various ideologies, of which he has found Ayn Rand's the most intriguing. With the very real possibility of socialized medicine in the United States, David finds that he increasingly needs a principled defense for himself as a physician. He hopes the materials in the kit will help him decide—and perhaps someday advocate for—how medicine ought to be practiced.

October 17, 2006
The Lucidicus Project is proud to award its thirteenth MISDK today to Matthew E., a MS-III at St. Christopher's Iba Mar Diop College of Medicine, located in Luton, England. Matt is from New York and studied biology and chemistry as an undergraduate. He also has done graduate work in biology, psychology, and business. Matt believes that ethics and economics are an important part of understanding medicine, and that these topics do not receive enough attention by the general public or the medical community. He has even less confidence in the government's ability to understand them. He is looking forward to reading the materials in the kit.

October 13, 2006
The Lucidicus Project awarded its twelfth MISDK today to a first-year student at Johns Hopkins Medical Institute, in Baltimore, Maryland who would prefer to remain anonymous. This student has been following the issues facing the United States healthcare system and is concerned that the current system is not working, but has not yet determined what a better system would entail. This student is looking forward to learning about the economic and philosophic aspects of healthcare in order to make an informed decision about how to practice personally and how to shape the system as a whole.

October 6, 2006
The Lucidicus Project awarded its eleventh MISDK today to Kelli W., a first-year student in optometry at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. Lately the college has been having seminars on the structures of various healthcare systems, which has inspired debate between students on the balance between economics and the delivery of care, including the alleged "conflict of interest" facing providers. Kelli is looking forward to learning about how the rational egoist perspective answers these questions and others.

October 3, 2006
The Lucidicus Project awarded its tenth MISDK today to Cheryl L., a first-year medical student at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Shreveport (LSUHSC-S). Cheryl is familiar with the fictional work of Ayn Rand, but has not yet studied how the ideas of rational egoism and the free market can be applied to the field of medicine. She is concerned about the future of healthcare in the United States, especially in light of the nation's move toward socialized medicine. She also hopes to gain from the MISDK some insight around the idea that there is more to healthcare than sacrifice and service.

September 28, 2006
The Lucidicus Project awarded its ninth MISDK today to Laura M., a first-year medical student at Emory University. Laura has had a long interest in medicine, and in recent years has started to read philosophy. Upon entering medical school, she found that many professors are vocal in their support of socialized medicine, and that all of the student organizations on campus subscribe to the notion of a "right to free healthcare." Laura is looking forward to learning about how rights can be defended against such views.

September 26, 2006
The Lucidicus Project awarded its eighth MISDK today to Vivek J., a fourth-year medical student at the VCU School of Medicine at the Medical College of Virginia. Vivek is particularly interested in a career in medical education. He learned of The Lucidicus Project from a friend who studies Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand.

September 25, 2006
The Lucidicus Project presented its seventh MISDK today to Bhavik P., a pre-med junior studying at Rutgers University. Bhavik recently became aware of how intertwined ethics is to medicine after taking a course in the subject as a sophomore. Now that he understands the topics in ethics better, he would like to learn more about how capitalism addresses these issues in medicine.

September 22, 2006
The Lucidicus Project awarded its sixth MISDK today to Conor S., a third-year medical student at Virginia Commonwealth University. For a long time, Conor has believed that a government run, national health plan was the only solution. However, as of late, he has become skeptical of nationalized healthcare and interested in learning about other models that may make more sense.

September 19, 2006
MISDK No. 5 was presented to Thom R. today by The Lucidicus Project. Thom is a medical student from Kentucky who became interested in medicine at an early age for both the scientific aspect and the chance to help other people. Upon entering medical school, he discovered the near-chaos of competing interests of business, government regulators, and activists whose goal is to socialize medicine. Thom is a proponent of the trader principle (the concept of coexisting with other people by trading value for value), and is interested in learning more about the case for capitalism from the books and materials in the kit.

July 11, 2006
MISDK No. 4 was awarded to Julio B. today by The Lucidicus Project. Julio is a medical student in Brazil who fell in love with medicine at an early age. Last year, he placed extremely highly in the entrance exam, only to find out that the medical education system into which earned entry was quietly under reform. (In order to educate a cadre of young doctors for the Brazilian universal public health system, medical schools have been gradually transformed "to train students in conformity to this new system of healthcare.") Julio is very interested in learning about both the moral and economic case for capitalism. Someday, he would like to practice medicine in the United States.

January 30, 2006
MISDK No. 3 was awarded to Mark K. today by The Lucidicus Project. Mark is a Canadian citizen studying medicine in his first year of a six-year MD program in Poland, where he is also active in the student council and student parliament. Mark says that, in some ways, he is proud of the socialized medical system of his native Canada, but at the same time he has his doubts. He is open to learning about the philosophic and economic principles of capitalism, and especially eager to consider the moral case for capitalism as presented in Atlas Shrugged.

January 10, 2006
MISDK No. 2 was awarded to Mickey B. today by The Lucidicus Project. Mickey is a second-year medical student. Prior to enrolling in medical school, he earned a bachelor's degree in finance, a Masters of Business Aadministration (MBA), and he spent some time working in industry. His business background, he says, has helped him to understand some of the business issues in healthcare. It has also alerted him to the dangers of healthcare controlled by the government.

October 21, 2005
The first Medical Intellectual's Self-Defense Kit was presented to Becky D. today by The Lucidicus Project. Becky is a second-year doctoral student in audiology at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. Since reading The Fountainhead (her new favorite book), and Anthem, she has noticed a significant anti-capitalist sentiment on campus and in the media. She has become particularly concerned over the possibility of a socialized healthcare system taking hold in the U.S. and what it would mean for her field. She is looking forward to learning about how capitalism can be defended in general, as well as in the healthcare industry.