Dr. Carol Herbert believes that the "flexibility and breadth of a generalist" is an advantage in her position as the first female family practitioner to be appointed dean of medicine in Canada.
"I thrive on uncertainty and a dean lives in an uncertain world and needs to be flexible," says Herbert, who will soon be moving from UBC to her new job as dean of the combined faculty of medicine and dentistry at the University of Western Ontario in London. Figure 1
Herbert's appointment is the third in a year of firsts for women and FPs, a year of "breaking glass ceilings," as she puts it. The first female physician to become a dean of medicine in Canada was Dr. Noni MacDonald, a specialist in infectious diseases (see CMAJ 1999;160:1042), while Dr. Brian Hennen was the first Canadian family physician to be named a dean of medicine (see CMAJ 1999;160:1865).
Herbert is accustomed to firsts. She is a pioneer in providing services for sexually abused children, she helped found the Sexual Assault Service of Vancouver and she is a leader nationally and internationally in developing primary care research.
Herbert, 53, balances editing, research, writing, clinical practice, teaching and administration. She's editor of an international journal and a member of CMAJ's Editorial Board, and has published 60 papers; she has also coauthored 5 books. She has expertise in participatory research and her research interests include clinical health promotion, communication and influencing family physician behaviour and decision-making. She's taught at UBC for 27 years and was head of its Department of Family Practice from 1988 to 1998. Meanwhile, she's managed to keep her clinical practice going at least a couple of afternoons a week, and raised 6 children. "I like keeping all those balls in the air," she says with a laugh. "It's a personality quirk."