Hi, I’m Joan, a graduate of University of Birmingham Medical School, and graduate of the BSc (Pharmacy) programme at National University of Singapore… essentially I’m old.

I’m a Christian, and most of my time is spent either at home, at church, or at placement. I don’t have much in the way of hobbies, so I guess that’s why I’ve spent so much time on these notes here.

Why are these notes free? I did actually try selling them previously, but it didn’t work out very well. Hosting a website is expensive, selling stuff online is surprisingly expensive too. Even though I could probably afford to capitalise on it now, I think I’d like to continue offering these notes for free.

I think Medicine can sometimes be a “rich person” profession. You depend on networking to get work experience, you have to invest in UCAT or BMAT resources to do well in those exams, some people even do MMI courses to train for interviews, and most of us spend money on PassMed or Quesmed or other resources throughout University to do well. I’ve been very blessed to afford some of these things, but not everyone has that spare income to pay for things. I’d like this to be a free resource for everyone, and especially for those who cannot afford more/better resources.

If you can afford to do so, would you please help to fund this website so I can afford to keep providing these notes for free? I’ve invested quite a bit of money to keep running the website, and the royalties from the print version do help, but every little bit counts! One day when I’m getting paid a reg’s or consultant’s salary I’ll stop asking for money lol

Also if you’re curious as to why the printed notes are on Amazon, it’s because it’s the only avenue that prints and ships the notes on demand. The only way to make a book affordable is mass-printing, but that requires a huge upfront cost, I’d have to figure out storage and shipping on my own, and I’m not sure who’d even buy the book. I don’t get much royalties from Amazon, as the cost mainly goes to printing, shipping, and the percentage Amazon takes off it. Not complaining, just saying.

If you have any suggestions (especially on topics I’ve missed in my notes), want to report an error in the notes, or have other feedback, please use this link to talk to me. Do leave your email if you want a reply!

From this quack to you, all the best with your journey in Medicine!
– Joan (Aug 2024)