ENT3003

"Cancer can take my arm but it will not take my spirits" If I was not forced to write more, I wouldn't. This quote says it all. This semester was tough. In trying to create a short film rather than a video, I need to film patients many times, not just once. That's what I plan to do. So even though I got only to film patients briefly, it was great to expand and develop some roots. I feel great doing this work, it is challenging but fulfilling. Cannot wait to finish this semester and focus on it full time, finally. No pediatric patient at Shands will die without me telling their story, that I can assure you. This week I filmed an event called "campfire", in which our entire group gather at a farm to celebrate the lives of patients who died and to honor the volunteers who are leaving UF for bigger and better endeavors. I was very sick and could not do much, but it was great to be present. In this screenshot, you see one of the many speeches we had, whe...

So the structure I am now following is: Get to know the patient personally; If filming becomes an opportunity to enhance that person's life, I propose the idea; If the patient agrees, I film an interview, without any B Roll; Based on the interview, I build the story for the short film; With the story in mind, I return to film the B Roll in the next weeks, up until everything is complete; I also incorporate a brief, explanatory interview with the patient's attending physician; Editing is done, video is released. I am excited to try this new strategy. It has been super arduous work, but it's been equally fulfilling and unfolding in incredible ways. 

Existing Market.  Step 1: To create breathtaking short films, sharply improving the quality to natgeo level of filmmaking; Step 2: I interview my Mother Nature, which rules above us all. She said that it does not matter what my wishes are. What needs to be done is uncertain but the time is counting down, and that is as certain as death :) Step 3: I need to finish this semester, so I can stop writing blogs and actually start working full time in that. Combining both school and work has been super challenging, but I have been managing it fairly decently. I am eagerly waiting for the moment I can do this full time. New Market. Step 1: It would be very interesting to leave the US and film critical care units elsewhere in the world. I am not sure how that would be done, though. Perhaps I first need to apply for a nice grant, then have a partner with me, then make mini trips to other countries and find out how patients are treated there. Step 2: It may attract attention to t...

Opportunity:  My greater aspiration is to one day be in a position of enough power to improve medical care worldwide. This is my life goal. For the next ten years, however, my opportunity (or life goal scaffold) is to tell stories of remarkable individuals in medicine. Through the scope of a nonprofit organization that I want to call "Heroes of Medicine Foundation", I plan to highlight the lives and thoughts of patients, scientists, doctors, and anyone meaningfully affected by medicine. Although in its infancy, the work has already started: www.heroesofmedicine.org As a former cancer patient, scientist, and aspiring filmmaker, I am governed by this idea that something beautiful can be created out of these hospital rooms. Something about the human condition in the most vulnerable moments, which translates into resilience, excellence, and sacrifice. That’s when powerful stories arise. Most of them, however, go forgotten. I am doing this specially to prevent many patients from...

The Resources of Heroes Of Medicine Currently Student background Patient background Science background Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Patients Cinema equipment My efforts Volunteer support Connections Online Presence VRIN Analysis I spend most of my time studying. It is imitable, but not really replaceable. I am a B Cell Lymphoma patient, which gives me a unique, highly valuable perspective. It is not imitable but it is replaceable; I have a brief career as a scientist, which also added value to my work. Not so rare per say but every scientist is working, by definition, on something unique, so it is rare. Can be imitable and replaceable. Foundation that funds me, super rare, not imitable nor replaceable; Those are my diamond It's my equipment, not that valuable, not rare; My sweat and tears, also not valuable nor rare nor replaceable, but it is imitable; Volunteers are great. Every Summer and Fall we have an influx of new, intelligent students. My ...

https://youtu.be/RMW98JfNtvc

A few interesting notes from the book! During industrial revolution, people went to work in nasty factories, but population still doubled because people were congregating and services like hospitals and drinking water became increasingly more accessible. The author built a company that sells non-military grade drones to civilians. He was able to do it by sourcing it in China and bringing the final product to the states. But unlike other companies, his has a rather unique structure in that those who want to work on it are rewarded based on a hierarchic pyramid that awards contributors based on their contribution. In the bottom of the pyramid lies a t shirt for a simple code written, but in the top you have stakes in the company as a reward. Although he was already accomplished in his career beforehand, he does prove a beautiful point: in today's age, you can create any material thing you want if you have a vision. His started as he was trying to build cool toys out of Lego wit...

1) A domain expert in your industry. Media studio at Santa Fe College. They make promotional videos for the college. I asked the president for their support and they went to film with me twice, teaching me a lot. They pleased their boss while filming for me. It was great to have their mentorship because they have given me much advice on the tiny details of the process. 2) An expert on your market. Mahmoud, a scientist. He is a bioinformatician and post doc. We met when I was working with research and since then he has watched closely everything that I do, guiding me through wiser eyes. I think our relationship was built based on mutual admiration and opinions. He is a crucial mentor in my life. 3) A supplier to your industry. I would not say he is a supplier per say, but Muhammed is a Fulbright scholar from Pakistan who is pursuing his master at UF, he has a social business and a great perspective on entrepreneurship. I have no social media skills whatsoever, so I take him a...

1)  You I am a filmmaker. (first time describing myself like this based on feedback but I don't think I deserve that yet). I hope that my business (www.heroesofmedicine.org) becomes my life. Ever since I decided that I would follow this stupid idea of making videos, I have devoted every breathing second to this. It's either that or death. 2)  What are you offering to customers?  As we all know, medicine does not cure anyone and it does not sell immortality tickets...yet. There is a point when we all are forced to write the last chapter of our lives. I'd like to believe that what I do is to help others write this last chapter as well as they can. That's palliative care. 3)  Who are you offering it to?  I am offering this to any palliative care patient. Although I frame it that way, no one needs to be dying per say. More than that, though: I am offering powerful stories for the entire world to be inspired.  You will find famous artists across var...

I do not know who my costumer is. And I know that this is a problem. If my project ever works, will I get money from private donors, or will I have an audience? I don't know. What I do know is that I enjoy creating those videos and highlighting these patients. It feels good, you know, because they are so sick and mentally exhausted. You see the gratitude in their eyes. Are they my costumer, then? Well, I would never be able to charge them for that. They already have enough medical bills. I want to explore the thought of a potential donor. Here is how I would imagine that person to be: Older. Wealthy. Has/had a loved one with serious health problems. Believes in philanthropy. What do I have in common with that? I wish I could say wealthy. And laugh about it while drinking wine in my Jacuzzi. The Jacuzzi would have bubbles... That would be nice right there. I share the belief in philanthropy as well as experiences with health problems. I don't know if this donor profile...

  https://youtu.be/VbUsibF97f4  

Now you may disagree with me but who cares? Yes, I am sure there are things that make me unique, but who gives a flying flower? If I was a successful entrepreneur, millionaire at 23, super accomplished or something to that effect - then yes, let me tell you about these unique aspects of mine that turned me into an outlier. But I am just a college student trying to make it through the semester. I believe that when you are working super hard to become an outlier, you need to be constantly reminded by yourself and others about how much you need to improve still. Not how great you are, because you are simply not great! (yet)!!! How can you be so unique if your life/work/results are mediocre? Feeling special is normal to all humans, but rather misleading, illusory. I believe that you first need to create something unique in this world, then you can talk about you being unique. I know I went to an extreme here, but does that make sense to you? I would love to hear your thoughts about i...

I will admit,  I have not interviewed anyone, but I do have unexpected feedback that I would love to address here. I am super thankful that some of you actually read about my ideas for my project (refresher: I make short films highlighting patients at Shands and I want to make a nonprofit out of that). A great concern that you presented to me was: "Who is actually going to donate to your nonprofit?? Everything looks promising until someone has to sign a check!" I want to write here my plan for getting donations, but please tell me whether or not you think it's a good one. Please give me suggestions if you happen to have them! What do I need the money for? I need it to survive, and to keep my website and software subscriptions active. Making a video of a patient and publishing it on Youtube costs me nothing given that I have already bought all the equipment. With that being said, 25k/year is my minimum. Last year I got that through employment and scholarships. ...

Tenaciousness The competency aspect of tenaciousness speaks to time management, in my view. This course has required us to write and reflect methodically every week. In all honesty, I have yet to perform as well as I would like to. It has been hard to be tenacious. Sometimes I look at squirrels and I will admit: I wish I was one. You own your own tree, invade others, conquer enemies and scare lizards away. The process of becoming a tenacious person is not that appealing, it is so hard! I would say I have become tenacious because I have sacrificed absolutely everything for my idea to work. I haven't seen my family in the past five years; my girlfriend broke up with me after 4 years together because all I did was work; I have absolutely destroyed my GPA; I have abandoned a career as a scientist. Today, all I have is this idea and a few thousand dollars of funding for it. After choosing all of such sacrifices, to not be tenacious has ceased to be an option. It is one failure...

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Ashlee Vance It surprised me the most to see how many hours Elon works every week. Even his eating time is calculated to be as fast as possible. And that is the aspect that I admire the most in him. Elon has faced a unprecedented amount of risk in his early days at Tesla and SpaceX. I still have yet to comprehend how he had the mental capacity to persevere. He has many competencies. He is capable of performing well at a broad number of vastly different positions. It was confusing to me, as I read the book, to really understand his inner motives. The book was written based on a series of interviews between Ashlee and Elon. You don't get to see much of Elon's inner reflections, reason for which he seems to be a super human through our eyes. I would ask him to hire me, obviously. After he said no, I would then ask if he had plans to try something in the medical field. If he said yes, then I would ...

Throughout this week... I have interviewed a few cancer patients, who would be my "segment", and asked about the topics proposed. I have found something super interesting:  Refresher: I am telling stories of young people's reflections on death and debilitating treatments.  Why? Yes, that is hard, but the uniqueness of this project lies on the way we do it. There is elegance and dignity to be shown even in the darkest moments. There is beauty in the thoughts of someone standing on the forefront of medicine, with a tube in the nose and a needle on the back. Patients want to talk about just that, on behalf of those in similar circumstances. In the interviews, they told me that they  are being asked to select the type of casket they prefer. They are being asked whether their eyes should go to research or transplantation. They are receiving a by-product of mustard gas used in the first world war as chemotherapy medication. The nurses delivering it must wear ...

1) You.  I am an international student from Brazil, a student of physiology and medical research. I have the talent and burden of perfectionism. My idea for business (nonprofit) is what I plan to do for the rest of my life. 2) What are you offering to customers?  I make videos about interesting individuals in medicine, mostly patients. Highlighting someone's journey, even if upon imminent death, is a powerful tool to provide comfort, inspiration, and awareness not only to that person, but also anyone else. 3) Who are you offering it to?  I am virtually offering it to anyone. However, those who have a professional or personal relationship with medicine will find it more appealing. In other words, people who work in the medical field and people who are forced into it, like patients. 4) Why do they care?  I would make an important distinction in that those who I am offering my services to are not the ones paying for it. Philanthropists...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g1y3SLndCw

Quick reminder :) M y business idea is to create short films about awesome patients and doctors, highlighting their thoughts and lives. Interviews: I never interview someone I do not know. So I spend considerable amount of time going to patient rooms and getting to know them. My goal is, above all, to provide palliative care. That means having a conversation, playing a game, providing movies or video games. Sometimes I find someone with a powerful story or a powerful thought. That would be someone inside the boundary. This week I "interviewed" (got to know better) ten patients. Only two were a good fit for the camera. Here are my thoughts on what makes someone not fit for a filmed interview, regardless of ever being in front of a camera before: Communication skills - monotonous tone, poor word selection, speech disfluency (for ex. those "hummm" in the middle of sentences or too many "like, like, like"). But most importantly is the capacity ...

Opportunity: "To tell stories of remarkable individuals in medicine." Solution: The solution is to do something that has never been done before. To capture the last days of patients' lives with the utmost respect, and then share their reflections with the world. This is done by getting to know patients along their journey, up until they fully trust me and my work. Then I bring a camera and only film when I can confidently tell that the device has become invisible to the patient's eyes. This is the best way to capture the authenticity of vital moments. An example already done follows:  https://youtu.be/-02OOgRm_14

My opportunity is : " to tell stories of remarkable individuals who give vast contributions to the medical field ." Who: Remarkable individuals in medicine; What:  To tell Stories; Why: Many patients die without their stories being told. They die feeling forgotten. Testing who: I have selected a broad term for who, because eventually I would like to tell stories of anyone involved in the medial field, from janitors to CEO's, from clinicians to scientists. Currently, however, the main focus is on terminal patients; Testing what: "Telling stories" was also used broadly, but it is accomplished through the scope of a 2 minute video, filmed in cinema style. Testing why: I believe that there is another why. When filming someone who works in medicine, like a doctor, I am more interested in their perspective about what needs to change in the field. I do it with the assumption that the first step towards solving a problem is to acknowledge its existence. S...