John Babb

I am a retired Assistant Surgeon General, and Rear Admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service. My experience in pharmacy, emergency preparedness/response, and public health administration has allowed me to write about medical issues which confronted people during our growth as a Nation. This not only includes the practice of traditional medicine, but also folk medicine, old wives tales, and even a bit of folk lore.

Although I write historical fiction (sometimes with a touch of a medical mystery or even the paranormal), great pains have been taken to assure the historical accuracy of my books, including my visiting almost every location mentioned in the stories, as well as related museums, libraries, historical settings, and battlefields.

I was raised in the Missouri Ozarks as what I would call a "free-range kid", served in a variety of duty stations across the U.S. with the USPHS, and now live in Tennessee with my artist wife, Victoria, and fearless wonder dog, Rooster.