Conversation

From humble beginnings in New York City, Healy turned a Vassar College and Harvard University education into a cardiology practice and professorship at Johns Hopkins University. But it was in 1984, when she took the position of deputy director of Science and Technology Policy in the Reagan administration, that Healy began her ascension into the national public eye. In 1991 President George H. W. Bush named Healy the first female head of National Institutes of Health, where she became a vocal advocate for gender equality in medical research. After a failed bid for the U.S. Senate in 1994, Healy served as dean of the medical school at Ohio State University until 1999 when she was named president and CEO of the American Red Cross, a position she held on the fateful morning of Sept. 11, 2001. Healy also works as a health columnist for U.S. News & World Report. And her new book, Faith and Facts to Transform Your Cancer Journey, details her own battle with cancer along with cutting-edge research and ways for others to ward off the disease. She and her husband, Dr. Floyd Loop, former head of the Cleveland Clinic, live part-time in Naples.

Q: It has to be a long way for a young woman from Queens to the corridors of power in D.C. and a leadership role in American medicine. Tell me about the challenges and the successes and what you brought to the journey.

A: I grew up in a wonderful, humble family that had a passion for education and reading and hard work. Neither of my parents graduated from high school, but they had this great sense of this country being a place where anyone who works hard and gets an education can do whatever they want. I guess that’s the philosophy embedded in me. Growing up in the earthy parts of New York City, I don’t think you ever move away from that. It leaves me with a great deal of humility. Whatever success we have on one day is balanced by struggles on the next.

Q: You often credit your father, who supported this strong work and study ethic for you even at a time when such an influence was not popular for working-class Irish Catholic daughters. How big a role did he play?

A: Growing up in the ’50s, the concept of women’s liberation just didn’t exist. But my father really felt that women should have every opportunity a man had. Not many parents thought that way about their daughters back then. Educational and professional opportunities weren’t really there. A woman whose first goal was to go to medical school was somewhat of an oddball. It’s extraordinary for me to see how ahead of his time my father was. God bless him.

Q: Among your many accomplishments, you’ve been a champion for women’s health—launching the Women’s Health Initiative, directing a pioneering heart study at the American Heart Association, establishing a new clinical trials policy at NIH. What’s your sense of the state of women’s health in America today?

A: The changes that occurred since the early ’90s have been revolutionary. Something as simple as a national meeting where new research is being reported. Today you invariably
see that, regardless of the illness, there’s a recognition of gender differences. That has really permeated therapeutics, pharmacology; it affects every dimension of wellness. Most illnesses are seen through the lens of potential gender differences. This is not man versus woman. This is solid biology.

Q: In your time in Southwest Florida, you’ve seen the change in demographics and population as well as changes in public health. Is what we see on the Gulfshore a microcosm of American healthcare? Are we better off or worse off than the nation at large?

A: In many ways, the older population, the group over 50 or 60 years old, is often ignored. But what you see in Southwest Florida is a recognition that this group of older Americans is a critical part of a vibrant community and vibrant enterprise. Naples is not a place dominated by the typical Nielsen demographic of 18- to 35-year-olds. And indeed that group is not what makes the world go ’round. They’re important, but they’re part of a spectrum.

What you see today is health and well-being for folks as they get older, even in spite of the fact they may have faced serious illness. Heart disease used to be a death sentence. Now, having cardiovascular disease, having cancer has not kept them from being active and vibrant and involved. What we’re seeing around here is a picture of what every community will ultimately experience. The population is aging well. It’s aging fit. It’s aging in a dynamic, involved way. Fifty isn’t what 50 used to be and neither is 70 or 80.

Q: How did you land here?

A: We love Naples. We’ve been coming here since 1999. So many of our friends from Cleveland and Columbus were just always singing the praises of Naples. Of course, both my husband and I had been here and had meetings and conferences here, as it’s a very popular site for medical meetings. We travel extensively, including to many sunny places, but Naples just has that combination of a robust and energetic city; it’s not just a beach community. It has the calm—and the karma—of a place where you can have the water and sunny days and palm trees. So it was very compelling to us. I think every year we enjoy it more. A friend of mine once said that the thing about having a place in Naples is that you can’t wait until the winter comes. That’s especially true when you live part-time up on Lake Erie.

Q. You were at the helm of the American Red Cross on Sept. 11. How would you describe that experience, and what did you take away from it?

A: It was an extraordinary privilege. I remember standing in my office watching on television that [second] plane hit the twin towers on Sept. 11, and instantly we knew what we were dealing with. This was the first time this nation would be involved in an episode of WMD. It was always imagined as a nuclear or biological or chemical event. The fact that it was an airliner for civilians turned into a bomb was beyond diabolically clever. At that moment we instantly activated the plans that we had for responding to this kind of disaster. I did it through the eyes of a physician. I worried first about the blood supply and whether it would be available for any potential survivors. But I also had to consider that we’d face another incident next week, next month. This was not just an assault on those three sites, but the terrorists achieved what they wanted, which was to instill terror in hearts and minds of people coast to coast.

It was very intense for the first several weeks. After that, things went back to normal as they should be. Then it became more an issue of how much money did you raise and where did you spend it. But for the period of time around Sept. 11, it was an extraordinary time. Something you never, ever forget. Visiting New York and being embraced by desperate parents, going to Shanksville and standing beneath a cross that the Salvation Army had erected and being with families clutching you and one another. It was painful. But it was also piercingly beautiful. It was a time of people coming together in a way I’d never seen. It left me with a lot of faith in this country but also a lot of concern that we are still not prepared.

Q: Your work for three presidents put you in a unique position to assess our bioterror risk during a period of incredible change in world politics. What are the biggest challenges we still face on that front?

A: Community preparedness. There’s always a sense that this is going to be someone else’s problem. In places like Florida, where people know what evacuations mean, there’s more awareness of the importance of preparedness. But physical and psychological preparedness for being a nation under assault is not something that is really in the consciousness of the public. The solution will require federal, state and local government collaboration. But, ultimately the citizens have to drive this. We rely too much on Washington, D.C. The mayor of New Orleans said after Katrina, "We expected the cavalry to come." Don’t count on the cavalry when you’re looking at a major national disaster, either natural or terrorist. There needs to be more emphasis in school, more thought in everybody’s day-to-day lives about preparedness. In some ways, communities like Florida are ahead of the game in that regard.