Charles is right about one thing...you fit right in with the rest of us.
Just for the record, "Melody Maxim" is my real name, and many people in cryonics know me, personally. I posted my background on this forum so that people will know someone with relevant medical experience is criticizing the way medical procedures are being attempted by SA. Perfusion is important in cryonics, because it is the method used to deliver both the washout and vitrification solutions. If Aubrey de Grey was criticizing someone's behavior in his field, I don't believe it would be inappropriate for him to state his credentials and experience.
The perfusion programs you mention require only one year, because the people accepted into the programs are required to already have their bachelor degree, with specific prerequisites in biology, anatomy, physiology, and pharmocology. In the one year they spend in perfusion school, they will undergo more classes, along with rigorous wet-lab training, and most likely will perfuse more than 100 actual cases with an instructor standing over their shoulder. If you don't understand the importance of perfusion technology, ask any heart surgeon, and if you think perfusion school is no big deal, try applying. No, my education doesn't make me any more "special" than anyone else, but it does make me qualified to criticize the procedures and equipment at SA.
SA and Alcor have my credentials and work experience information, and I believe Alcor even has some of my letters of recommendation. (No, I wasn't trying to get a job, there, we were just discussing some potential consulting work, at one time.) I see no more need to provide my credentials and references to you, than I did to Steve Harris, when he asked. I amicably resigned from my previous job with a group of surgeons and other medical professionals who were like family to me, to re-marry and move to Florida. I was "burnt out," I guess you could say, being the single mother of three children, carrying more than double the normal caseload for a perfusionist, working an average of 60 hours a week, and taking call 24/7, every other week, for the majority of nine years. At that time, I decided to do something else for a while, so I could spend more time with my children. Is that okay, with you? I never had a bit of trouble with anyone I worked with, and I honestly can't think of even one disrespectful comment that went between any co-worker and myself, (in either direction), during my years in heart surgery.
I do not particularly care about attacking Charles. In fact I've come to hate it, as I still have fond memories of when we were friends, and I am aware of how "ugly" it must look to people who are unfamiliar with the events that have transpired at SA. BUT, I care more about patients, and I believe Charles's decisions for SA often pose a danger to patients, and impede progress in cryonics by wasting obscene amounts of time and money. As I recently wrote, should Charles quit attempting to influence the direction of cryonics, I would have nothing more to say about him.
The fact that you think perfusion technology is not a big deal, and that having participated in a cryonics case is more important, only shows your ignorance about the procedures. There is nothing new about "standing by," intubating patients, inserting IV lines, performing cardiopulmonary support, administering medications, or perfusion technology. And, yes, I have emergency medical experience, having participated in quite a few trauma cases. You complain about me posting my background, but then you ask even more questions about it, as though I should have posted more!
Again, Charles is right...you're just like the rest of us, in regard to character assassination. OH...and, by the way, Charles is an excellent journalist, and writer, in my opinion, though he sometimes takes a liberal amount of creative license when he shouldn't, and perhaps he got a little carried away with that "Garbage World," thing you posted reviews of. My guess, knowing how Charles likes to shock people, is he was just having a little fun with his imagination, and making a little money at the same time.
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