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I have a call to speak, to write, to do sort of deep-heart surgery in people's lives.

My family is vital to me - just the sense of being surrounded by no pretension.

My dad was a surgeon, my mom a nurse, and they were always out working. I had five sisters and a brother. They didn't care what I got up to.

I wanted to be a surgeon, possibly influenced by the qualities of our family doctor who cared for our childhood ailments.

I always wanted to be a surgeon, because I had a lot of admiration for my father, who is also a surgeon. I also wanted to be a heart surgeon. That was motivated by the fact that my young aunt, a sister of my dad, died in her early 20s of a correctable heart disease.

Although I liked especially physics and mathematics for which I had considerable talent, I decided to study medicine. This profession had for me a strong emotional appeal, which was reinforced by having an uncle who was an excellent surgeon.

My dad was a surgeon in Egypt. He was a general surgeon. As a little boy I always admired what he was doing, and I wanted to do surgery.

I like the values associated with a medical family - common sense, being practical but also thoughtful.