As legislators battle over a health care bill, Dr. Diana Zuckerman battles simply for better health. The 59-year-old president of the National Research Center for Women and Families calls on her past to educate people about how to live a healthier future, analyzing the latest research at www.center4research.org. She shared with The Examiner by e-mail the faith that guides her and the people who have inspired her.
Do you consider yourself to be of a specific faith?
I am Jewish, and have always felt that the core belief of Judaism is to be a good person. The tradition of honoring each New Year by asking forgiveness of other people and praying to be a better person appeals to me.
Did anyone or any event especially influence your faith or your path in life?
My brother Elliot had an enormous impact on my life. He was born with a brain injury and is unable to speak and has limited ability to learn. It was devastating to my parents, and in those years it was stigmatizing to have a disabled family member. But, since he was 2 years older than me, I just accepted him and loved him. Loving a family member with a disability raised questions at an early age about what makes a life worthwhile and how we should treat other people. I saw how difficult my brother’s life was – trying to learn, trying to make friends, living in a community that didn’t want people like him. I saw my parents start a group with other parents – these groups became the Association of Retarded Children, now called “The ARC.” I learned from watching them that we don’t have to accept whatever happens – we can try to make things better, even when it’s difficult. When I was in junior high my mother’s cousin, Maurice Sendak, wrote a book, “Where the Wild Things Are.” Having a famous relative made it suddenly seem possible to dream big.
You’ve spent much of your career focusing on women’s health issues. What progress have you seen that has been most fulfilling? What issue remains problematic that 25 years ago you thought certainly would’ve been better by now?
Working in health policy, I saw that major scandals involving medical products affected women, such as thalidomide (a drug for pregnant women that caused devastating birth defects), DES (a drug for pregnant women that caused cancer and infertility in their children), and the Dalkon Shield (a contraceptive that caused infertility and death). As a result, most medical products are more carefully tested today, for women and men. The “families” in “National Research Center for Women & Families” always included men, but we started the Cancer Prevention and Treatment Fund to more explicitly show that we work to improve the effectiveness of products, programs, and policies for all members of the family. Unfortunately, even today there are medical products sold in the U.S. with risks that outweigh the benefits for many people.
What do you predict will be the most pressing health-related issues of your children’s generation?
As the mother of two college students, I worry that the life choices of kids today could eventually harm them. Will the excessive drinking that is typical in colleges cause liver damage or other health problems when those students are in their 40s? To prevent cancer, we need to understand the risks of chemicals and radiation in our environment. My concerns at work spill over to my concerns as a mother, and vice versa. Will radiation from my kids’ constant use of cell phones cause cancer 20 years from now? It’s easier to warn other parents than to convince my children to use landline phones.
At your core, what is one of your defining beliefs?
I believe that people can make a difference. Not everyone has the power to make the world a better place but we can each make our own part of the world a better place. When people who were harmed turn their personal tragedy into trying to help others, that inspires our center’s work, which is to make medical treatments safer, help people prevent diseases, and help adults and children get the medical care they need.
