ben merryweather;
Name: Dr. Benjamin Merryweather

Gender: Male

Species: Human

Age: 36

Place of Birth: Boston, MA, USA

Rank: Lieutenant (Junior Grade)

Branch: United States Navy

Position: Physician, Base Staff

Appearance: An expressive face; bespectacled brown eyes and neatly-combed brown hair. Around the medical bay, he'll always be in uniform, but when off-duty he's happy to be seen in more casual civvies.

Personality: A perceptive fellow with a genial countenance, Ben's lifelong dedication to his work has produced a terribly experienced doctor who's highly confident in his line of work, but is rather a mess in every other aspect. Always perfectly courteous, his mild demeanour and unfaultable bedside manner leave many quite surprised by his delightful (and somewhat wicked) sense of humour. Quite reserved, Ben's not one who's able to speak easily about his thoughts regarding personal matters; such things tend to leave him tongue-tied and flustered. Something of a perfectionist, he is obscenely organised and his workspace is always tidy. He works well in high-stress situations, remaining calm, level-headed and efficient.

Bio: The youngest child by five years, and the only boy in a family of three children, Ben was always considered the "baby" of the household. Growing up, they tended to be a source of some discomfort to him, as all families are from time to time. Ben's comparatively older parents and more traditional parents always seemed very different to the "normal" families of his friends, and his sisters' and their friends' tendency to treat him like a cute little pet was, well, embarrassing.

Something of a recluse through most of high school, his anxiety about achieving good grades drove him out of the social circles and into the books. Over his years of study, however, Ben's learnt to cut himself some slack, to allow himself a life (or some semblance thereof) and, ironically, his performance improved as a result. His father had hoped for Ben to follow in his footsteps by studying to become a veterinarian, however Ben came to discover human patients as the far more interesting (plus, they didn't try to bite off your hands... as often).

Achieving his undergraduate degree, Ben went on to attend medical school at Johns Hopkins University. After completing his year of internship and faced with a huge amount of unpaid debt, Ben surprised everybody by joining the United States Navy. He was then able to complete his three-year internal medicine residency at Bethesda Naval Medical Centre.

In the next few years, Ben obtained a diverse range of experiences through working in the field and at naval facilities across the country. His accomplishments led to his eventual selection for what must arguably be one of the most exciting - and challenging - assignments for any medical doctor on the planet: Stargate Command.

Although he's long since stopped professing to having seen everything (it only serves to tempt fate), Ben's seen pretty close to it, having served for three years at the SGC through offworld attacks, alien viruses and incursons. As a result, it's not so easy to ruffle Ben any more (...where work's concerned, of course). Although, the life-sucking aliens were a very unwelcome surprise. Not to mention they've done nothing to alleviate his mild phobia of animals of the clawed variety.

Given his wide experience in medicine and otherworldly afflictions, Ben seemed a natural choice for the Atlantis expedition; a case that was strengthened when tests revealed him to possess the ATA gene. For Ben's part, the decision wasn't so clear-cut. He was fully aware that this trip would likely be one way and, to be frank, he was quite happy with his own little corner of the galaxy. It wasn't always the most friendly place, nor a particularly peaceful one, but it had a certain charm to it...

After initially declining the invitation, he was asked to take some time to consider - but even Ben himself could not quite explain it when he later returned with a "yes". That being said, it's not a decision he's regretted on the whole (again, the whole galaxy being dominated by Dracula-types does tend to take away from the overall experience, but nonetheless...).

ATA Gene: Naturally-occurring