Ciaran O’Brien is currently a general surgery resident at the University of Pennsylvania. He grew up in Westchester county New York, and attended St. John’s college in Annapolis, MD where he studied philosophy and comparative literature, with a plan to become a teacher or professor of literature. After graduation he developed an interest in healthcare, and worked for a year as a nurses aide in a community hospital while applying to post-bacc programs. He completed the Bryn Mawr post-bacc and did a gap year doing research in bariatric surgery before starting medical school at Columbia University. He maintains an active interest in literature and philosophy, as well as narrative medicine and medical education.  ​