Bio
Tim Phelan grew up outside Manhattan in the suburbs of New York and Connecticut. In 1988, he graduated from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia with a double major in economics and French. Shortly after he went to work as an alumni fundraiser at the Lawrenceville School – a job that let him rub elbows with some of America’s most powerful movers and shakers – Tim’s ambitious plans for global conquest took a sudden, unwelcome detour. That’s when he experienced his first terrifying symptoms of what would eventually be diagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
The next fifteen years were filled with anxiety as Tim faced the daunting daily challenge of trying to simultaneously conceal and conquer his mysterious, embarrassing medical condition before it sabotaged, among other things, his chances of holding onto lucrative jobs and promising romantic relationships. Before writing Romance, Riches, and Restrooms - A Cautionary Tale of Ambitious Dreams and Irritable Bowels, Tim’s professional background included four years as a waiter/aspiring professional triathlete, a brief stint in the cut-throat world of copier sales, and ten years working as an institutional mutual fund salesman for investment banking firms such as Robertson Stephens and J.P. Morgan & Company.
These days, combining his professional sales background with his stand-up comedy training from the San Francisco Comedy College (yes, there is such a place), Tim has turned his focus toward actively raising awareness for irritable bowel syndrome. As a member of the IBS Patient Action Group (IBSPAG), he petitioned the FDA Advisory Committee to approve Solvay Pharmaceutical’s IBS drug, Cilansetron. He recently participated as a research volunteer for a study at the University of North Carolina Center for Functional GI and Motility Disorders which was designed to determine the causes of IBS. Phelan is also a member of the IBS Self-Help Group, the world’s largest online community of IBS sufferers.
Tim recently moved from San Francisco back to the East coast, where he currently resides in a three-bathroom townhouse outside of Philadelphia.
Please visit Tim’s Blog for the most up-to-date schedule of interviews and appearances.