Michael Woods is a general surgeon and healthcare executive living in Lawrence, KS. He grew up in the Midwest and developed a love for the outdoors and life's rich complexity and interconnectedness while working on a western Kansas ranch. He attended the University of Kansas, majored in Cellular Biology, did research in a virus lab, and minored in anthropology. He then completed medical school and general surgery training, becoming a board-certified general surgeon. Tiring of the practice and politics of medicine, he became a researcher at a major pharmaceutical company, where he became the global medical leader of a worldwide drug development program. In this position, he traveled the globe, giving him rich insights and a deep appreciation of other cultures. His background in anthropology, combined with his broad knowledge and experience in clinical and research medicine and extensive travel, is a potent combination for creating rich stories based on scientifically plausible- even factual- scenarios, as in Olduvai Countdown, his first fiction novel. Michael is a well-recognized author in the medical trade press, having written and published four non-fiction books in the healthcare genre. His most successful book is Healing Words, a best seller for the publisher, generating combined sales of 19,000 in a niche market with very little promotion (First and Second Editions). He is the editor of a fifth publication that has sold 15,000 copies. His non-fiction works have been favorably reviewed in the industry press.