About Josh

I've been a writer since the beginning. Out of college in the 1980s, I co-founded The Albany Magazine (it was a great effort, but unfortunately it didn't last long). After that I moved to Florida to work as a copy editor at The Charlotte Sun, a daily newspaper. But I wanted to understand the systems that shape people's lives—so I went back to study healthcare, epidemiology, and human services.

That work produced AIDS and HIV-Related Diseases, a bestseller published by Hachette Book Group in 1996, at the height of the epidemic.

I spent the next two decades in healthcare leadership. In 2004, I became CEO of Northeast Neurosurgery. Two years later, I took the helm at Capital Region Special Surgery—the first and largest multi-specialty clinic in upstate New York focused on diseases of the head, neck, and spine. We brought together ENT, neurosurgery, pain management, physical therapy, advanced imaging, neurology, and sleep medicine under one roof. Under my leadership, the Albany Times Union, a Hearst newspaper, named us "Best Workplace" three years running.

In 2019, I joined Columbia University's HEALing Communities Study, the largest and most comprehensive research initiative in the nation aimed at combating the opioid crisis. Our findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, I also ran Powell Farm—a hobby operation with a dozen sheep, two horses, and a glamping experience that let guests pretend, briefly, that country life is relaxing.

Then came COVID-19. In 2023, I walked away from healthcare administration, moved to Portugal's Algarve, and returned to what I'd always been: a writer.

Today, through The Powell House Press, I take on select projects for clients across industries—retail, pharmaceutical, and beyond—while writing about the subjects that won't leave me alone: public health, politics, ethics, and the stories hiding in plain sight.

Beyond the work, I'm an avid skier, lifelong horseman, and an unwavering defender of democracy and human rights—regardless of political affiliation.

I co-founded The Race for Hope, a 5K that has raised tens of thousands of dollars for people and families affected by brain tumors. I've served on boards including the Albany City Schools Health Advisory Committee, the Eastern New York Dressage and Combined Training Association, Hospitality House, and NABA. And for over 40 years, I've been a trained literacy volunteer with Literacy Volunteers of America—because the ability to read changes everything.

In today's world privacy matters. Both mine and my clients'. If you are serious about engagement with me, I'm happy to share my CV and some of my clients with their specific permission.