As 17th U.S. Surgeon General, I was privileged to serve as the nation's doctor. I focused much of my time on promoting proven programs and individual steps that lead to good health.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Prior to my call to the Twelve, I served as a medical doctor and surgeon.
I wanted to be a surgeon, possibly influenced by the qualities of our family doctor who cared for our childhood ailments.
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.
My dad was a doctor and surgeon. He was the fifth generation of his family to become a doctor.
One of my grandfathers, actually, having gone out there as a minister, decided he would better serve the people as a doctor. So at a very late age - at the age of 38 in fact - he changed course and decided to become a doctor.
I was a heart surgeon before I came to Congress, and I've worked many holidays on behalf of my patients.
I was good at being a doctor; my patients liked me. At times people trust you with things they wouldn't tell their spouses. It was a real privilege.
I had the privilege of practicing medicine in the early '60s, before we had any government. It worked rather well, and there was nobody on the street suffering with no medical care.
My father was a doctor, and I admired him and got along well with him. He took me with him on house calls. We were living in Flushing, which was then a sleepy village of 25,000 - before the subway got there. I've been sure I wanted to be a doctor since I was about 12.
I'm so glad I didn't become a doctor, because I do more than any doctor can do. I am an administrator, a CEO, doctor, psychiatrist, an activist, a campaign funder. I think I did well.