Dr. Russ Hill

In his youth Dr. Russ Hill imagined himself playing professional baseball, encouraged by a successful high school baseball career. But higher levels of competition failed to ratify that expectation, so he had to pursue his backup plan. Instead he found an opportunity in pharmaceutical sales. While doing that work he met a Podiatrist who was an alumnus of Dr. Hill's own high school. The doctor challenged him to further his science education and then apply to Podiatry school. He did and at the end of a career in health care he retired, still feeling the need for challenges in his life.

In pursuit of another challenge, Dr. Hill followed his daughter into the teaching profession, a profession he originally had pursued over twenty years earlier. Over the past decade and a half he has challenged his students to bump up their own aspirations, just as the Podiatrist had done for him. He still teaches middle school Science and STEM courses in Engineering and Medical Science.

The current trend in education has put a focus on career readiness, and yet we have not seen a textbook that introduces students to medically-oriented careers. Medical Investigation 101 and the aligned workbook do just that by providing insights into how doctors analyze problems and conduct medial investigations. Whether students end up with a medically oriented career or not, the analytical skills required of physicians have applications in almost all careers we expect to see opening up in the future. Besides, It never hurts to have some basic medical knowledge tucked away when collaborating with a physician to maintain your own good health.

Russ Hill and co-author Richard Griffith are First Cousins who grew up on opposite sides of this country, Griffith in Virginia and Hill in California. In spite of the geographical barrier, they successfully collaborated by many e-mails for over a year in order to write this pair of books.

My recent children's book, "Why Did Buffy's Fur Go Flat?" takes the reader with Jade as she embarks on a journey to determine what has made her cat's fur flat! Jade's determination to help her cat regain her fluff leads her on an adventure where she learns about the food chain, toxic tuna, how harmful chemicals move through our environment, and what she can do to make a difference!

"Why Did Buffy's Fur Go Flat?" was a collaboration with my daughter, Erin Hill, a teacher with over twenty years experience in elementary and middle school, teaching language arts, math, and science. The rhyming storyline is beautifully augmented with illustrations by art student turned environmental science college student Sky Kezmoh. The target audience is age 8 and up.

If your child enjoys our book, we hope you will leave us a positive review. Thank you in advance.