What really made me go into research was my dad.
He had coronary artery disease.
He suffered through two or three heart attacks and then three open heart surgeries.
Absolutely amazing what he had to go through.
and I watched him and said you know there’s gotta to be something we can do.
I saw so many people in our family suffer from diabetes, heart attacks, all these types
of problems that plague us in the southeast, especially.
So actually that’s why I went into research and that’s why I’m a cardiovascular researcher.
Cause I think I was trying, and I often say this, it’s kind of embarrassing, many of
the things I’ve studied in my own research program I suffer from myself.
So sometimes I say I’m just trying to save myself.
In some ways.
But I think it is like I see in myself what I see all these other people having to go
through.
And so I guess you know I do believe that people do research because they want to help
things and make a difference.
so I think that’s what brought me into it.
For me...
I think it was my mentors during graduate school and my post-doctoral experiences, those
mentors.
I was really lucky to work with some great people, they were great scientists but more
importantly they were good people they not only taught me how to do an experiment but
the importance of ethics behind your science and everything to do with that.
I love to sing.
I sing in my church choir.
So that’s something that makes me feel good all the way from my soul to whatever.
I especially like it because my daughter sings in the same choir so I get to look over and
see her face signing back at me.
It's simple, my parents took us to myrtle beach every year when I was a kid for so many
years and I guess you’re a product of your upbringing so I took them when they were little
kids, not every year but we’d go every 3-4 years, they know everything there, they love
it.
It’s pure relaxation.
Research still motivates me.
It’s still the thing that ...it’s like I don’t know it’s almost like a virus
or something.
You start doing research and you follow some question and you let it take you where it
takes you and it’s actually the most fun thing.
I think about it, I swear I do, in the shower.
I think about it when I’m driving to work.
If I get the opportunity to walk, which I don’t very often these days, that’s what
I’m doing.
I solve something.
I figure something out.
So to me it’s still probably what gets me up and gets me here.
I’m very fortunate to still have time to devote to research while still trying to do
what I need to do as the vice president of research.
It’s great.
It’s fun.