David
David
David1.jpg
Portrayed by Michael Shanks
Statistics
Fullname David Michel Trudeau
Birthday July 5
Species Human
Age 38
Height 6'
Weight 165lbs
Eyes bright blue
Hair Light brown
Occupation Researcher for the CDC and adjunct prof

Claim to Fame


Biography

David was born into a large French Canadian family in Toronto, Canada, the third of a total of five children to Marc-Andre and Claire Trudeau. There was never a shortage of children to play with as both his parents also came from large families as well; so picnics, gatherings at the cabin out 'at the lake' was always a very festive and well attended affair.

David wasn't the most academically centered of the five, nor was he the most athletic. What he lacked in both was more than made up for in his ability to focus and the tenacity with which he latched on that bordered on passion when in a favoured subject. When school required him to buckle down and plow through, he did just that. As a result, while his name wasn't on anyone's lips as 'genius' or 'brilliant', he did still manage to make it through his elementary and high school years with good grades, and a reasonable review from his hockey coach.

Growing up, David enjoyed the times at the lake particularly. There was a fascination with the land around him; the trees seemed to hold mysteries that he just couldn't tear himself away from and secrets that he could never wrest from them. Of course, it could have been because he was an avid monster movie watcher; his peace and quiet from the loudness of his siblings. The old movies the Vincent Price era were his respite. And when he left the city to vacation at the lake, Dracula, the Wolf Man always seemed to be just behind one tree or another in his imagination, watching him and waiting for him.

Books, unfortunately, didn't hold the same fascination for him, which meant that his parents insisted that he spend more time with them. He was a more visual person, which resulted in the only books he did read were the ones that he was required to read in order to succeed in the challenge that had been set before him, whether it was history, literature, or 'the classics'. Dracula was just not as much fun between the front and back cover as it was in black and white on the screen!

As a more visual, and therefore more tactile person, David seemed to do better in the sciences. He had the ability to look at data on the screen and apply the information in a manner that he could work with and ultimately put into a real and meaningful context. While he hated reading, his output certainly didn't suffer for it.

There was no 'calling' for David to move into medicine. There was no humanitarian calling, no burning reason or desire to take up the cadeuseus and march into battle against disease. If anything, it simply was seen as a stepping stone to research; to make the numbers and plots meaningful, and tilt them towards the benefit rather than detrimental in the application. If he could find a way to isolate and synthesize, for example, that drug within the canabis that seems to have a beneficial effect on people with chronic pain, that would be a success to him. Or, to discover how to recreate the natural hormone push that allows Parkinson patients to control their motor function while on the back of a horse.

Undergraduate work, therefore, was guided. Science was tantamount, and the other required classes were treated as such— required. No more effort than was absolutely necessary was applied there. While he had enjoyed hockey in high school, David found that other than the occasional casual pick-up game, there was no real burning need to move forward with that.

At the end of his undergraduate study, David was well on his way to medical school. Biochemistry was a strong suit of his, and it seemed that all his efforts were martialing towards that end. Genetics were fascinating. As a side project, much to the amusement of his close friends, he'd actually done a faux-thesis on the genetic potentials of werewolves and put it up beside a friend's thesis on zombies. There, he'd laid out the genetic ramifications and all the different chemical interactions that could possibly be in play to cause a normal human to change into a hybrid man/wolf.

Summer study between undergrad and med school found him in Africa with a corps of missionaries in Ghana. While there teaching, ironically, about the prevention of the spread of diseases, both waterborne and airborne, that he'd contracted malaria. Prevention by spraying the walls of his hut, which was met with some teasing, and nets managed to keep them at bay. It was the poor Canadian in the African heat that just couldn't handle keeping long sleeves and long pants on during the noon-day sun. It didn't happen the first time, nor the second.. but before he was due to return home.

Sick as a dog, there was little medical aid in the village in which he was working. Should he have gotten a 'real' physician anyway, Ghana's medical establishment believes in homeopathic medicine. Quinine was the answer, which slowed his recovery and made things difficult for him.

Returning home, it took David a year to recover to the point where he had enough strength to last a day of work, much less a week or a month, but recover he did. Of course, it delayed Medical School by a year, but he was as sharp as ever and more than ready to dive into it. And dive into it he did. Biochemistry was still coming easy to him, and genetics was still a passion for him. He did find one or two other B-grade horror flick affecionados with whom to share his senior faux-thesis, and during his tenure in school, modified it and brought it up as he learned more and more. By the time he was finished and he began his internship and residency, he had it so polished that it could have been published… had it been about anything other than the genetic code that governed the ability of man to shift into a hybrid wolf…

Oddly enough, out of residency, David got a job with the Center for Disease Control in the United States. So, gaining his work visa, he moved south. At first, he stayed reasonably close to home, that is, in Chicago. As opportunities presented themselves, however, he moved further and further south. Now, in his career, he's at a point where promotions are few and far between; he's levelled off and is stable at GS:14, a management position where it's not all administration.

With stability in work brings the added possibilities, and David has taken a 'night job' teaching at SMU as an adjunct professor, teaching biology to non-major students.


Character Details

Somewhat geeky, David is passionate about few things like he is about genetics and how disease manifests itself. He's quick to defend, and having grown up in a large family, and seems to believe that he has an inherent ability to know 'right' from 'wrong' and will attempt to make others see 'reason'. He has lost friendships that way…


Relationships

Name Race Relation Notes
Mignonette Psychic Colleague and friend Working together for a charity. Now joined in helping a man regain his memory.
Todd Human Potential patient Interesting case, and I'm looking forward to seeing the files on the man.

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