Meet The Critical Care Team
Lakshman Swamy:
Intensive Gameologist
Lakshman Swamy, MD, MBA is a practicing pulmonary & critical care physician and Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. His wife beats him at every game every single time they play… fortunately he is a better doctor than board gamer! He has shared his experiences caring for COVID patients on CNN and other news outlets and published on the management of COVID in the intensive care unit. When he isn’t in the ICU or designing card games, he lives in Brookline with his wife, three kids, and Wheaten Terrier, Topi.
Twitter: @LaxSwamy
Omari Akil:
Game Design
Omari Akil is a game designer, content creator, and community advocate. He is a co-founder of New Orleans based Board Game Brothas, publisher of the highly thematic tabletop games Rap Godz and Hoop Godz. Omari also works with multiple organizations to build and grow the board game community in more inclusive and representative ways.
Twitter: @akilaverse
Vincent Chan:
Medical Design Specialist
Vincent Chan, MD is a pulmonary & critical care fellow at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Abington Jefferson Health. When he isn't busy beating down diseases in the ICU, he enjoys playing board games with his wife and two cats. If he isn’t designing the medical mechanics of the next game, he's probably trying to teach breathing mechanics on the nearest whiteboard to students and residents!
Twitter: @vchan522
Sara L Merwin:
Demystifier In Chief
Sara L. Merwin, MPH, is the author of The Informed Patient: A Complete Guide to a Hospital Stay. As a clinical researcher, patient advocate and family caregiver, she's seen the ICU from all different sides. Sure, you'll sound like a doctor when you're playing Critical Care. Sara makes sure that you know what it all means!
Twitter: @Saramerwin1
Caitlin Fine:
Wizard of Shape & Color
Caitlin Fine is a graphic designer, art director, and an avid doodler. She may not be able to come up with a witty bio but she can make anything look good with some photoshop!
Instagram: @cf.jpg
Britt Davis & Kaila Pettis:
Portrait Art
Britt and Kaila are the founders of the creative collective LCKR ROOM, LLC. Based in Atlanta, they specialize in a range of creative projects and content creation.
Instagram: @lckr.room Twitter: @Lckr_Room
Patient Biography Writers
Sharang Biswas is a game designer, writer, and artist currently based in NYC. He has won IndieCade and IGDN awards for innovation in game design has published writing in Fantasy Magazine, Eurogamer, and soon in Strange Horizons, and has exhibited work at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, and Pioneer Works in Brooklyn. Twitter: @SharangBiswas
Lucian Kahn is the award-winning designer of tabletop roleplaying games such as Visigoths vs Mall Goths and Dead Friend: A Game of Necromancy, which you can find at necromancy.itch.io. Twitter: @oh_theogony
Banana Chan is a Chinese-Canadian/American board and roleplaying game designer and writer, and the owner of Game and a Curry. Her latest work has been with Scooby-Doo: Betrayal at Mystery Mansion, Sea of Legends, Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall, Dune: RPG, and Warp's Edge. Twitter: @bananachangames
Jabari Weathers is a spooky goth from Baltimore, Maryland that writes for tabletop games and roleplaying games when they aren't illustrating them. They enjoy cooking dishes from places that don't (yet) exist in their spare time.
Twitter: @goblinprincete Instagram: @jmwillustration
Content Reviewers
Walt is a 10 year old boy who lives in Northville, MI with his parents (Randy and Rana Awdish). He attends Amerman Elementary School and is in their ALPs program (Accelerated Learning Program). He enjoys drums and guitar and is interested in the field of medicine.
Jonathan is a human factors engineer and user interface designer who helps medical device manufacturers make their products safe and easy to use. In his spare time, Jonathan designs and publishes small tabletop games with uncommon themes.
Twitter: @outerludegames
Julian is a pre-med undergraduate student at Harvard from Los Angeles, California who enjoys playing board games with his friends and family and is passionate about reducing health disparities.
Kelley Reep is a critical care clinical nurse specialist (CNS). She provides system-wide support for critical care through training, implementation of best-practices, and mentoring nurses in the care of complex patients.
When she is not at the hospital, she can be found working in the yard, or more likely, listening to true crime podcasts.
Twitter: @reeprn
Melissa Jones is a pre-med student studying Biomedical Engineering at Harvard College who seeks to maximize access to healthcare, board game victories, and time spent outdoors with friends.
Mark is a former ICU patient who spent three weeks in ICU. He is a Patient Advocate and speaker as well as the Host of the ICU Life & Recovery Podcast. He has been a lifelong gamer in all forms (board, video, tabletop roleplay and war)!
Twitter: @MarkThomHudson @icu_life
Dr. Nida Qadir is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Associate Director of the Medical ICU at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. She is also the co-director of UCLA’s Post-ICU Recovery Clinic and serves on the World Health Organization’s guideline development group for COVID-19 therapeutics. When she’s not in the ICU, she enjoys skydiving, adventure travel, and other sensible thrill-seeking.
Twitter: @NidaQadirMD