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 book.

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. In the course of 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. Dr. Hil found that challenge as he followed his daughter into the teaching profession. Over the past two decades he challenged his students to bump up their own aspirations, just as the Podiatrist had done for him. He retired in 2020 from teaching middle school Science and STEM courses in Engineering and Medical Science.

Richard Griffith grew up in a college town, Lexingtion, Virginia, where his father worked a a college professor. So, he took education seriously. He studied phyics in college, electrical engineering in graduate school, earing a doctorate, and then for good measure went to medical school. Along the way he served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam conflict. Coming out of medical school he used his engineering background to contribute to neurosurgical research in brain trauma before doing a residency in anesthesiology. He practiced medicine both in private practice and faculty member at the Albany Medical Center in New York State. He also worked in the medical device industry as jWorldwide Hypodermic Medical Direct for Becton Deckinson & Co. No retired in Vermont , he continues an interest in getting young people involved in health are and promoting greater patient safety during medical treatments.

The current trend in education has put a focus on career readiness. Medical Investigation 101 provides insights into how doctors analyze problems and conduct medical investigations. The analytical skills required of physicians have applications in almost all careers of the future. It never hurts to have some basic medical knowledge tucked away for our own health.