Marilyn Chow, RN, PhD, FAAN is Kaiser Permanente’s vice president of National Patient Care Services and Innovation.
Q: In a few words, what does Total Health mean to you?
A: Inner peace and integrated connectedness of mind, body, spirit.
Q: What’s your first health-related memory?
A: Drinking Chinese herb tea (very bitter!) for my respiratory infection as a young child.
Q: Which person, living or dead, is your health hero or role model?
A: Florence Nightingale.
Q: What is your favorite food?
A: Tastes around the world–tapas, Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese, vegetables.
Q: What do you value most in your work? What inspires you to continue?
A: Making a difference in people’s lives. Seeing positive changes occur keeps me inspired.
Q: If you could change one thing in health care, what would it be?
A: Shared decision-making with a deliberate focus on coaching and teaching people how to care for themselves.
Q: Where do/would you most like to travel?
A: Europe, especially Paris and Italy.
Q: What do you consider your greatest achievement so far?
A: Development and coaching of nurses and nurse executives across the US who are making a difference in health care.
Q: If you could have dinner with any three people, living or dead, who would you pick?
A: Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Mead, and Florence Nightingale.