the health care advisory committee for BOSIA, the Bainbridge Ometepe Sister Islands Association. BOSIA is a non-profit, non-partisan organization focused on people-to-people exchange between residents of Bainbridge Island in Washington State and Ometepe Island in Lake Nicaragua. She enjoys working as a volunteer for charitable medical trips working in low resource countries, including rural Costa Rica, Thailand, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Bhutan and Cuba. Literary career Though she studied literature and wrote some fiction throughout her life, Carol did not begin a serious writing career until she was in her forties. “The unfulfilled desire to write fiction was a personal disappointment for a long time--years, really. I knew I wanted to write; I felt the drive to write, but I wasn't ready to devote myself to the task with the discipline it takes to succeed. I finally had to confront myself and decide to actively pursue writing fiction or accept that I was giving up. In the end, the idea of letting go of a lifelong dream was more painful than daring to try." In 2001 she enrolled in creative writing classes and began writing her first novel,Oxygen, which was published in 2008 by Simon & Schuster. The novel was a national bestseller, nominated for the Washington State Book Award, and an Indie Next Pick in 2008. Her second novel, Healer, was also an Indie Next Pick in 2011. Her third novel, Gemini, was an Indie Next selection for March 2014, as well as a Library Reads selection, and won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association’s BuzzBooks contest. Her books have been highlighted as top choices by Library Journal, Booklist, Harpers Bazaar, People Magazine, Poets & Writers, Womans Day, and USA Today, among others. All of her novels draw from her personal experience as a physician, her role as a mother, and her interest in medical ethics and the complexities of contemporary healthcare. Prior to focusing on fiction, Carol wrote informational articles for The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from 1999 to 2001. She has also been published in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Huffington Post, and other media outlets. Seattle 7 Writers Carol is a founding member of Seattle 7 Writers, an organization founded in Seattle with the mission to support literacy organizations in the community and to create connections between writers, readers, booksellers, and librarians. Bibliography Gemini (Simon & Schuster, 2014): After ICU doctor, Charlotte Reese is put