MEET LOCAL LEGENDS: By Medical Specialty

"Since I had polio when I was a child, I've been around doctors my entire life. But I always wanted to go to medical school. My grandfather was a general practitioner."

"I'm most proud of my time spent as Assistant Dean of Students. My legacy, I hope, will be that I helped some medical students become good and caring physicians."

"I like science; the idea of doing something that isn't always the same. And life as a pediatrician is definitely unpredictable!"

"I've been blessed in my career. I started working on cystic fibrosis at a time when some great advances were being made. We've been able to help a lot of children, and I love working with children. They face everything with such courage--it's inspiring."

"I was influenced from an early age to become a doctor. My mother and I lived with my grandparents and my grandmother was wheelchair-bound; we never knew the cause. And when I was eleven, my grandfather died at home, of cancer. Then during high school, I volunteered for the March of Dimes, working with kids with polio. Later in college, I was a swimming director for the New York Times Fresh Air Fund and worked with the first mixed group of handicapped and "normal" children. That's when I was convinced I wanted to be a doctor!"

"I told my teachers I wanted to be a nurse…and they told me to go to medical school!"

"Connecting with children and their families and showing them that you care is the first step in developing a trusting relationship and the most important part of being a doctor. It is that special relationship that is so vital in practicing the art of medicine."