Raised in New York City suburbs then shuttled off to college, Steve Leiner subsequently: drove a truck for a Boston warehouse; lived over three years in Europe, hitchhiking on a shoestring budget (learned fluent Swedish, French, Greek); taught English three years in Thailand (learned Thai); entered graduate school to switch careers, then ran an emergency room as a nurse practitioner in remote Appalachia (1981-86); trained health workers in El Salvador’s villages and shantytowns (1986-90, during its civil war). Settled since in San Francisco where he and his wife raised two daughters, Steve currently provides both primary care and HIV specialty care in a community clinic serving low-income monolingual Latino immigrants.

The Honest Truth is Steve’s first book. Outside of college and graduate school, his writings have consisted of informal travel narratives through the 1970s and 1980s, then peer-reviewed medical articles since 1990, including letters published in premier medical journals. He has crafted numerous slideshow presentations, both about his travels and as academic lectures for master’s degree nurse practitioner students.