I went to Allegheny College, in Meadville, Pennsylvania.  I started as a pre-med student with a major in Chemistry.  Yet despite killing myself with studying, I flunked my first trimester of chemistry.  At the end of my first year I changed my major to Sociology.  But after all, it was the late 60's so my actual majors were protest, free love, and experimentation. After graduation I eventually returned to Newark, NJ and found a job working as a, you guessed it, secretary.  I did not last long at that position - leaving when I got a better offer - a vacation in Jamaica with my parents. 

On my return home to Newark I settled down to the serious business of looking for a more meaningful job.  With characteristic '60s idealism I sent off introductory letters and resumes to those local organizations whose values were similar to mine - the Urban League, the NAACP, the American Civil Liberties Union, etc.  And my idealism was rewarded with the position of member Director of the ACLU of NJ. 

It did not take me long to realize that an Allegheny BA in Sociology was not the ticket to a prosperous and meaningful career, and that graduate school, of some sort, was required.  My position at the ACLU involved contact with many lawyers so law school seemed a natural next move.  I had considered architecture but didn't have enough art background, sociology but didn't want to teach, and art but didn't have enough talent.  So I applied and was accepted to NYU Law school.  But in the period of time between being accepted and my accepting them, I had a chance encounter with a physician associated with the NJ College of Medicine.  He reminded me that I had started Allegheny as a pre-med Chemistry major and that the Newark medical school was looking for qualified minority applicants.  This was truly a life changing meeting.  I abandoned my plans for law school and enrolled at Drew University and then Rutgers Newark to complete my pre-med requirements. This began a period of unrivaled academic involvement (and dedication) broken only by a brief pre-medical school, last fling, trip to Greece. 

What followed next was four years of medical school and five years of surgical residency that are largely a dim and blurred memory. By my second year of residency I had grown terminally impatient with life on the East Coast, frustrated by the ups and downs of trauma surgery, and ready for a major location change.  I investigated opportunities on the West Coast (it didn't occur to me that there was life in the middle of the country) and somewhat like Goldilocks found that San Francisco was too big, Portland was too small, and Seattle was just right. 

In June of 1979 I moved to Seattle.  It was a move that I have never regretted.  In Seattle I completed my surgery residency, met and married Stanley Hiserman, survived my parents moving to Seattle and living with us, and discovered that it is possible to have the water and the mountains. 

After residency we moved to Arlington, WA, a small town about sixty miles north of Seattle.  That was an educational experience - how to be the only surgeon (only woman physician, only Black physician) in a somewhat polarized and eccentric small town medical community.  About a year later I was offered a position in Seattle working in a well established HMO and we decided to move back to Seattle. 

In the years that have passed since 1983 and our return to Seattle I have experienced the birth of my daughter  - Alexandria (1984), the death of my father (1985), the birth of my son - Wesley (1986), my mother's stroke (mild) (1997), the struggles of my relationship with my husband- Stanley Hiserman, and the blossoming of a community of friends and new interests.  My surgical career has evolved from a broad general surgery practice to a practice specializing in the care of breast diseases.  I have achieved enough distance from my medical school and (especially) my residency training to begin to assess the personal tolls I paid and to begin the process of regaining the important elements of myself that were buried during those times.  I am learning to read poetry again, and may eventually write it again, although creating art is still lost to me. 

My personal and professional interests have grown to include diversity and organization development.  In March, 1998 I received my PhD in Human and Organizational Systems from The Fielding Institute in Santa Barbara, CA.  My dissertation:  Forged by the Knife - The Experience of Surgical Residency from the Perspective of a Woman of Color, will be coming out in book form this Fall (ask for it in a bookstore near you - Open Hand Press).  I have achieved certification in diversity management from the National Training Labs and completed a three year Gestalt training program. I have been actively moving away from the reductionistic dehumanizing tendencies of modern medicine to a more holistic understanding of wellness, illness, and the importance of relationships in healing. I am living with the reality of being a Black woman in (racist, sexist, homophobic, classist, etc.) America, involved in an inter-racial marriage, and raising bi-racial children. All these things have made my life more difficult, more rich, and more complex. 

This is a tumultuous and difficult time to be involved in the practice of medicine as the structures of healthcare crumble around us and are rebuilt, sometimes haphazardly.  A year ago I left my (salaried and relatively secure) HMO position to open a solo private practice of breast surgery.  I was invited to open my practice in a Comprehensive Breast Center owned by a local Catholic hospital - Providence.  (The link to my Home Page is printed at the bottom of this page.)  This has been a wonderful move for me.  It removed me from a situation that had become personally and professionally stifling.  I chose the breast center because of their commitment to collaborative, multidisciplinary, woman-centered care. But it did land me in the middle of the medical/insurance craziness. 

To stay sane I like to travel, spend time outdoors walking or running when my joints allow it.  I like to write, read, be involved in social activism within my work and community, surf the Web, and build relationships with my friends.  In the last few years my family and I have traveled to Belize, Jamaica, and Barbados.  My daughter and I drove cross country several years ago, marveling in the beauty, breadth and diversity of this land.  I continue to strive to live my values, walk my talk, and make the world a better place for those I love.  I constantly struggle to temper my intensity with serenity, dampen my cynicism, hold tight to my idealism, speak openly and honestly from both my heart and head, take risks, and trust in the universe. In many ways I find that I am coming back to myself....