Tag archives: doctor
On a recent Santa Barbara spring morning, with early clouds with a chill in the air, Dr. Deborah Smilovitz Foster and I sat down together at Pierre Lafond in Montecito. The red umbrellas were up in anticipation of the sun’s appearance as we sipped our tea and chatted. It soon became apparent that I was […]
Dr. Mohamed Samir “Sam” Amer died at his second home in Punta del Este, Uruguay, on December 21, 2020. He was 85. Born in Tanta, Egypt, to Mohamed Mohamed Amer and Zeinab Hussein Saad Amer, Sam came to the U.S. in 1958 as a Fulbright scholar to study pharmacology at the University of Illinois at […]
When a young, skilled dermatological surgeon asks if you mind “talking shop” with his assistant while he takes out a squamous-cell skin cancer from your forehead, you answer, “No, I don’t mind.” Especially if you’re a writer and the doctor took out a melanoma on your forearm just nine months before. When that doctor, answers […]
Being alone in self-quarantine, as many of us are to one degree or another, isn’t easy. Being alone facing a raging coronavirus infection, even with loved ones nearby, is something everyone can’t help contemplating or perhaps doing their best to avoid thinking about. It’s a bridge we’ll cross too, if we find ourselves there. Dr. […]
Information for Action She wrote a manifesto, which became flattenthecurve.com. It was originally a Google Doc. Her document was uploaded so fast that it broke the Google drive features. She had no idea who was sharing it. It was just staggering. Then someone reached out to her and said they had reserved the domain flattenthecurve.com […]
It was amazing how many people got up so early to come to breakfast with the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation (TBCF) at 7:30 am at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort. It was the 6th annual Little Heroes breakfast to raise funds for their programs helping families who have a child struck with cancer. After […]
Many children’s games involve “counting out” rhymes for choosing one or more of the players for some special role. Everybody probably knows some version of the one that begins, “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.” But there is just one other such rhyme of which I retain a possibly fragmentary memory. And although there are probably many […]
A gastroenterologist is a doctor whose techniques nowadays include inserting an endoscopic light down into people’s intestines. One member of that elite community recently wrote a book about his work, entitled, The Tunnel at The End of The Light. If I may say so, the whole process of eating, digestion, and elimination is one that […]
Longtime Montecito optometrist Cornelius Mietus has announced his relocation to San Roque after 38 years in business on Coast Village Road. “I signed my lease here in late 1980, and I can’t believe how quickly it’s flown by!” Dr. Mietus said during a recent visit to the small optometry shop. Dr. Mietus has been providing […]
Richard Thomas Caleel was born in 1936 to Lebanese parents Tamir Sarkis Caleel and Almaza Caleel in Detroit, Michigan. He had two older siblings that he was very close to in spite of them being quite a bit older than him. His parents waited out the depression for their third child. Richard looked up to […]
