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t m c » p u l s e | d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 4 14 TMC SPOTLighT Q | Can you tell us about your formative years? A | I was born and attended public schools in Louisville, Kentucky, where my older sister and I were blessed with devoted, kind parents. Both our mother and father worked tirelessly in a family business and were, in every way, wonderful role models. They taught us never to take for grated the oppor- tunities that America has afforded us, and of our responsibilities to work hard and be contributing citizens. In Kentucky, we lived at the junction of two beautiful public parks—Seneca Park and Cherokee Park—where there were acres and acres of beautiful, old-growth woods and creeks that were teeming with wildlife. Growing up, I spent much of my free time outdoors and was enthralled by the beauty, miracles and mysteries in nature. These experiences quite 'naturally' led to a passion for biology and other natural sciences. My interest in medicine also blossomed in Louisville when I was very young. The principle influences of my aspiration to become a physician derived from two of my neighbors who were general surgeons and exemplary human beings. My best friend's father, Dr. Clyde H. Foshee was born in a small town in Alabama and attended Harvard Medical School, where he also took his surgical residency at Massachusetts General Hospital. He would take me and his son, Clyde, on trips to their farm in Indiana and explain, with clarity and precision, the co-mingled life cycles of mosquitoes and dragonflies as well as how the bodies of his Hereford cows and human beings worked in similar from advocates passionately fighting to destigmatize mental illness, to professionals committed to a multidisciplinary approach to mental health, psychiatry today is, in many ways, much differ- ent from three decades ago. But STUaRT yUdOfSky, M.d., Knows there is still much more to Be done. the distinguished service professor and chairman of the menninger department of psychiatry and Behavioral sciences, and drs. Beth K. and stuart c. yudofsKy presidential chair in neuropsychiatry at Baylor college of medicine discusses the field of neuropsychiatry, and how his own challenges with dysleXia help him connect with patients and the struggles they face.