I am interested in getting people to use the healthcare system at the right time, getting them to see the doctor early enough, before a small health problem turns serious.

Every year, I am reminded of the kids who aren't in the freshman class and aren't graduating. I remember every single one of them. That is the worst of times for me, to see the future snuffed out.

What I am interested in is the present time.

That's one of the ironies of our time: Right when we're on the edge of serious improvements in health care, we're also cooking the planet.

But for me, it is when a student has died. I find the death of a young person the most difficult and painful of times. To explain it to other young people, to see a bright future snuffed out, is just awful. I am haunted by those deaths.

She has the right stuff, ... And having the right stuff is not something that is exclusive to one chromosome or another.