Foot in mouth Disease
A skeptical doctor's collection of hilarious and poignant essays about the world of medicine and beyond.
About Matt Hogan
Matt Hogan was born in Philadelphia and raised in an Irish family skilled in the art of brash pessimism. His childhood was consumed by movies, music, and baseball, and he dreamed of the day he’d put pen to paper and make it all come alive. In the fall of 1990, Matt’s brother was involved in a head-on collision that took the life of the other driver, a wife and mother of two. It was too much, even for brash pessimists, and the Hogan family fell apart. Matt gave up his pursuit of a career in writing and opted for one in medicine after spending countless hours in the hospital where his brother recovered. After college, he completed his internal medicine residency and moved on to a career in hospital medicine where he is now the Medical Director and Chief of Staff of a large urban hospital. He has won numerous awards for teaching and service and leads a thriving practice of over forty physicians.
One fateful encounter with an author dying from cancer reignited Matt's passion for writing, and soon after, the time-hopping science fiction novel Mr. November was born. Matt truly found his voice, however, when the absurdities of the public’s response to COVID-19 gave him the idea for Foot in Mouth Disease, a book about the comically frustrating missteps Matt has encountered, and even created, as a physician and brash pessimist.
Matt has resided in Decatur, Georgia for nearly twenty years since moving to the South for residency, but his birth-city of Philadelphia is ever-present in his skeptical and unfiltered humor.
All Books
Medical Humor
Foot In Mouth Disease: Musings of an Unfiltered Physician is a view of the convolutions of life through the lens of a doctor with an unconventional, and somewhat unrefined, sense of humor. Across a collection of essays, Dr. Matt Hogan uses experiences and events from his life to reflect on broader themes like motivation and regret, weaving hilarious accounts of his own personal history as a physician and native Philadelphian into the lessons he’s learned in a life of service and observation.
From the mortal dangers lurking in his childhood home, to the unreasonable expectations of being a physician in a Shonda Rhimes world, Matt gives the reader an unobstructed view of the absurdities of his life and how they molded him into the physician he is today. Nobody in his universe is off limits — not the mother who paid off his student loans nor the wife who tolerates his OCD — but while discussing the pitfalls of passing gas in front of a patient or reflecting on universal healthcare while atop a castle in Germany, Matt’s biggest target is himself. Permeating the prose is an underlying theme that in order to take an honest look at a difficult problem like our comically frustrating healthcare system, we must first take an honest look at ourselves.
Foot In Mouth Disease is a diary crafted into a story about one man’s dance into middle- age. It is a narrative in the vein of the author’s favorite writer, David Sedaris, and a window into the world of medicine through the eyes of an unprocessed skeptic. Mostly, however, it is a confession – an exploitation of the mutually hysterical and poignant events in the life of a dedicated physician that prove we are all human, and none of us will make it out alive.
Science Fiction
Sam Webb remembers things that no one else does. He has memories of events that never occurred and people who never existed, slowly driving him mad. He's a key player in a global conspiracy that is rewriting history, and he wants out. There's only one problem. He has no idea how far he's actually in.The most historic invention ever created lies in secret beneath a nuclear plant in Waxahachie, Texas. It opens a door to a dimension not constrained by the known limits of space and time. Rather than for noble scientific discovery, however, AlphaGroup's ruthless CEO, Johnson Dravek is using the machine in pursuit of ultimate power.Sam Webb is Dravek's ripper, the traveler inside the machine. His job is simple―to make money for the company by orchestrating "forwards,” business deals designed to cash in on events that have already come to pass. Each time he does his job, however, history is altered and lives are destroyed. He copes by drinking. While carrying out his latest assignment to exploit the housing market crash of 2007, Webb begins uncovering the truth of Dravek's master plan and how he really controls his sweeping empire. With the help of Marcus Planck, a brilliant physicist and inventor, Webb devises a plan to take down Dravek by using the machine against him. From 2131 to 1980, he leaps through time, striking deals at precise moments in order to bankrupt AlphaGroup and salvage whatever future may be left. The deeper he gets, the more corruption he unearths, including deceit, theft, and murder. Along the way, as each rip through time takes an ever-greater toll on his body and mind, Webb must face the repercussions of his own choices, including the impact they've had on the people he cares about most. But even he can't foresee just how important his past is to the future, and finding out who he really is may be the end of it all.