MEET LOCAL LEGENDS: By Medical Specialty

"I started working at the local hospital when I was fourteen or fifteen and, at sixteen, I decided I wanted to be a doctor — I wanted that relationship with patients."

"I don't come from a medical family. I was thinking of being an artist but became interested in being a doctor when my mother became ill with diabetes in my sophomore year of high school. I then did a professional internship to find out more and was matched with Dr. Winter Griffith, founder of the University of Arizona's family medicine program. And that's when I got interested in family medicine."

"I always wanted to be a doctor. When my family bought me dolls, I'd take them apart and operate on them."

"When I was in college, I worked for a community organization, helping with their food coop and writing health articles for the newsletter. But I saw that the people needed more than food; that's what spurred me on. I love math and my mom told me to go into computers. But that's not what I wanted to do. I was absolutely interested in health and healing, and being an advocate for universal health care. That's why I went on to medical school."

"I keep telling myself that until there are enough doctors in places like my hometown of Quincy, than I need to recruit medical students and doctors to get out and practice medicine in rural communities where people are dying of illnesses that could be prevented."

"It's easy to wear out after a while, but I've been lucky. I'm 86 years old, but I'm still trying to make a difference. That's what counts in the end-that you keep on trying."

"Improving the quality of care for patients is tied to the business of health care. All of us, physicians and clinicians, have a mission to improve the care our patients receive, and to do that you have to step up to the plate and confront the business of medicine and push for the best quality care."