Your Editorial Board: Dr. Carol Herbert

CMAJ 1998;159:0645

© 1998 Canadian Medical Association

Who was your most influential teacher?
In high school, an English teacher who marked all of us smart-aleck accelerated students down on our first Grade 11 essay, and wrote "trite" across my flowery prose. In medical school, J.S. Tyhurst, the professor of psychiatry at UBC, challenged our knowledge as med students, suggesting that he thought we were uneducated and not especially interesting, but he presented ideas that were intellectually challenging in the midst of first-year detail in anatomy, biochemistry, etc. From them I learned not to take myself so seriously and to strive for excellence. Also in medical school, a senior pediatrician, John Dean — very British, reserved and spare in his words — challenged me by presenting riddles and questions that required nontraditional answers. Perhaps most of all I learned from my late father, whose aphorisms ring in my head and govern my daily actions, and my mother, who taught me most of what I know about relationships.

Which aspect of your work gives you the most pleasure?
Nurturing the development of young faculty and helping them make choices that will advance their careers and enhance the department and medical school. I also enjoy "dancing-on-the-edge" work between disciplines, acting as translator from medical to nonmedical audiences and colleagues, and working in "difficult areas" such as family violence that require interdisciplinary collaboration and challenge my skills.

What is your favourite pastime?
Being with my children, walking, talking and discussing things that matter to us, and listening to the incredible ideas that emerge from them. More recently, spending time with my grandchildren and watching with wonder the incredible development of language and independent thought.

What book did you last read?
I am reading a book called Landscape and Memory, which is a tour de force by an art historian named Simon Scharma. It is a romp across the history, art and political development in Europe. I recently read with great pleasure The God of Small Things and Angela's Ashes, both very moving.

What alternative profession would you have liked to pursue?
At age 6 I decided to be a writer, and I would still love to write fiction. The wonderful thing about being an academic family physician is that I get the best of several worlds: I get to be a writer, public speaker, politician, teacher, scholar and clinician. And I get paid for doing all these things I love!

What illness do you fear most?
I would hate most to lose my memory and ability to think clearly, so the dementias induce the most fear.

What complementary therapies have you tried?
I have learned about a number of techniques over the years that I thought might benefit patients. Since the 1970s I have used hypnosis, both formally and informally, with individuals and groups. I have taught and used a variant called autogenic training, which is biofeedback without the machine. I find it is helpful in getting behind the symptoms and giving back a sense of control to patients with a variety of psychophysiologic symptoms, such as headache and functional bowel disorder. I "test" the therapies I learn about as to whether there is evidence to support their use.

What advice would you give to a young physician?
Remember how privileged we are to do what we love and to have a window into the lives of so many.

What was your biggest mistake?
I regret that there has never been nor will there be enough time to spend with my family. The early years pass very quickly, and so much else competes when one is a physician.

What was your biggest achievement?
A difficult question. Being able to see the best in people, what they are capable of, even sometimes more than they themselves can see, has allowed me to surround myself with "winners."

What make and year of car do you drive?
A green 1995 Mustang just like the one I wish I could have afforded in 1969. (It isn't a convertible, so it can't be called a mid-life-crisis car!)

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