New Name: Daniel 'Dan' Jacobs
Original Name: Jacob Winters
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Physical Description:  Daniel is tall and fit, exercising in some form or another every day.  He has wavy hair that’s dark blond or light brown depending on the light, with eyes that are bluish green.  Generally, the lighter his hair seems, the bluer his eyes, the darker, the greener, though that's more a factor of lighting than anything else.

He tends to dress well in suits or at least a nice dress shirt.  He smiles easily and often naturally, but it’s a fragile smile that’s easily erased when no one's looking.  As a result, it's hard for him to find it when he’s alone.  In that regard, he’s an extrovert, much happier around other people than he is alone and much more energized.  When he can't manage that he tends to improvise, talking to himself or his cat Ralph.  He's especially careful to ensure he's alone when he does this as his 'thoughts' aren't always appropriate or in line with the persona he presents.  In either case, he’s not delusional about it, knows that Ralph is just a cat and he's just talking out loud and not to some other aspect of 'himself'.  He just doesn’t like the silence.  Similarly, he’s usually playing music and has an extensive collection of vinyl records.  He usually has the television on in the background for visual stimulation as well, anything to keep his thoughts from turning too far inward when he doesn’t want them to.

When he is in those crowds (or more likely small groups or one on one) he shifts between being caring and concerned, and clever and comedic.  Both are truer aspects of his personality though both are currently acts.  Fake it until you make it, he'd tell Ralph when alone.  He remembered who he was, both the good and the bad and wanted to at least pretend he wanted to be the better of the two.

Former position in life:  Dan was a board certified psychiatrist and psychologist working at a research hospital prior to his recruitment.  That wasn't entirely true.  Though he was still board certified, he wasn't working when he'd been recruited.  Officially he'd been on sabbatical after the loss of his wife and daughter in a terrible car accident.  Unofficially, a number of strings had been pulled to keep him licensed after he was discovered engaging in self-medication and inappropriate contact with a research subject.  He wasn't remotely proud of either.

Strengths:  Dan is a keen observer of human nature.  Naturally intuitive and trained in various forms of verbal and non-verbal communication, not much gets by him.  While not a human lie detector or psychic by any stretch of the imagination, he's good at picking up on subtle clues and unspoken thoughts of those he engages with.  In other words, he can read a person like a book.

Sometimes, he can rewrite them a little too.  While not exactly a master manipulator, he does know how to push the right buttons.  What he lacks is the right motivation and purpose in life to push the right ones.  Secretly, his hope is this new 'job' will give him that motivation and purpose.

He has a Master's Degree in Psychology and a medical degree as well.  At least, Jacob Winters does.  Dan still has the knowledge and experience that comes from that, including basic medical training and advanced first aid.  He's also worked within bureaucracies before (i.e. government hospital systems and academia) and knows how to survive, if not thrive within an office political environment.

He's got an extensive record collection, has a wealth of knowledge about music (all sorts), a decent knowledge of film (at least anything before the 1990's) and is an avid reader (he doesn't sleep much).  He's a skilled cook, mixes a mean martini, though he now prefers whiskey, and is a pretty good dancer.

Weaknesses:  Dan has only the most basic weapons and hand to hand combat training he received in the accelerated Academy courses (and he didn't exactly excell).  He'll be seeking out additional training once he gets settled, especially hand to hand, which he enjoyed, despite being terrible at it.  He has PTSD and self-medicates/manages with alcohol and mainstream prescription drugs but does a good job of hiding it (though probably not good enough to slip past the eyes of an elegant forty-something interviewer).  While at heart a 'good guy', his faith in humanity, the universe, god or what-have-you is severely bruised and his moral compass is battered along with it (it still points north, it just wobbles quite a bit).

Backstory:  Dan had seen his life swing back and forth more than once.  He'd had a troubled childhood, with reports of abuse at the hands of his father before his parents divorced.  His mother remarried and there were no further police or court records related to the family, though he'd been quick to get away.  After graduating high school, he moved to California to attend college, continuing on to graduate school, before moving again to complete a doctoral program in Washington State.  It was there he met his future wife and things had been good.  The two were married upon graduation and had their daughter less than two years later.  She would be seven years old when she died.

In early interviews, Jacob would claim he should have seen it coming.  There were, he said, signs.  He would later clarify he meant signs of his daughter's illness.  He explained that she had a seizure the night their car went off a mountain road, though the autopsy was inconclusive in that regard.  Regardless, that was his statement, that she had a seizure and they were racing to the hospital.  Being a trained medical professional, he was in the backseat of the car with her, his wife in the front, driving.  Neither had been drinking.  He was the only survivor, despite being the only one not wearing a seat belt at the time.  He was thrown from the car midway through the crash and escaped without a scratch; at least externally.

He attempted to return to work after their death but those 'internal' injuries began to manifest, both in his research subjects which became increasingly focused on trauma, hallucination, psychic phenomena, extreme belief systems, and his methods.  This came to a head when an intimate relationship with a research participant unraveled and his own substance abuse was exposed.

While on forced sabbatical, he did begin to put some controls in place around his life and behavior.  While still not 'cured', if there is such a thing, he's careful to moderate any of his excessive behavior to time off the clock.  This included his research into matters less accepted in the scientific community.  Perhaps this was why he was ultimately recruited, those side interests, or perhaps they didn't mind recruits with a laundry list of flaws so long as they were desperate for a place to fit in.  Those were just guesses though, he'd have to get to know the rest of the team to know anything more.