About Me

Hello, my name is Clinton Pong and I write the notmysecondopinion! blog as a way of sharing my quest for knowledge with the world.

The Genesis
Back in 2003, I had my first encounter with a blog that was more than a just a personal diary. I was searching for the word "hyposmocoma" in google which is a type of Hawaiian lepidoptera (moth) that I was doing research on at the time. I came across an old entry in Pharyngula and subsequently stumbled upon the ScienceBlogs. It took off from there as I discovered a whole community of scientists and then branched out and discovered medical bloggers as well.

In 2006, I decided to launch a blog of my own after I was accepted to medical school as a means of documenting my progress and sharing with the world.

Why I Blog
I enjoy pondering things like the subtleties of human relationships, the inner-cellular workings of our body and how these two things on some miraculous level manage to link up! This tenuous connection between hard biological science and soft psychobabble is just as difficult to achieve between doctors and patients.

Teaching is a passion of mine; I spend a lot of time thinking about how I learn and I want to pass useful tidbits on to others. This is one such venue for my pearls, wise or otherwise.

What I do
Currently, I am on my way to becoming a full-fledged Family Medicine (archaically known as a "Family Practitioner," one of those old-fashioned docs that saw just about everyone for everything imaginable.)

I finished my undergraduate work at the University of Hawaii (where I was born and raised) and continued my graduate work there at the John A. Burns School of Medicine in Hawaii.


Other random facts about me
my favorite number is 3.
my favorite color is blue.
my favorite foods are shrimp and corn, which accurately describe my body habitus and mannerisms respectively.
i am defined by academia.