Berks County Medical Society Medical Record Winter 2021 - 23

M e d i c a l R ec o r d F e a t u r e

Paddling in Northeast Harbor, Maine

Interview with
Lucy J. Cairns, MD, 'Retired'
MR: Congratulations on a long and successful career as an
Ophthalmologist. You have played a major role in health care
in Berks County certainly as a physician to many patients but
also as a highly respected colleague among your peers. You have
contributed much to the medical community certainly not the
least as President of the Berks County Medical Society and for
several years now as the skillful editor of the Medical Record.
Through this interview we want to both recognize this service
and learn a little more about your evolution as a physician.

Two six-month periods in the San Francisco area during the summers
of 1969 and 1970 were the most memorable and shall be left to your
imagination.

MR:To begin, when and where did your interest develop to
become a physician?

In my final year, as I interviewed for positions with federal health
policy organizations, a future of sitting at a desk, doing paperwork,
and attending meetings came into sharp focus. The prospect gave
me a distinct sinking feeling, as did the knowledge that a shift in the
political winds could suddenly make years of effort irrelevant. The
result was a change in plans: become a physician! As a physician I
could still have a voice in the public realm but would not depend
entirely on success there for professional satisfaction.

After graduating with a degree in art from Antioch College
in 1973 I realized that while I had learned a lot about myself and
navigating the world outside the tiny western New York village I had
grown up in, I had not developed a plan for supporting myself! I
entered Antioch and the 60's counter-culture at the tender age of
17, and while I did obtain a liberal arts education during my time
on Antioch's Yellow Springs, OH campus and
a dream-come-true year at Antioch's London
Center, I utilized Antioch's work-study program
more to travel than to explore career options.

After graduating, I decided to explore career options I could
pursue with a Master's degree and fixed on becoming a policy
analyst for the federal government. My goal was to have some small
influence on issues I cared about. I was accepted to the public
administration program at the Cornell school of management and
earned an MPA. While at Cornell I developed a strong interest in
health policy through friends in the health administration program.

How it feels to be in Cape May
The Pot Shop at Antioch 1973

The next step was to return to undergraduate
school to take all the pre-med math and science
courses not included in my studies at Antioch. I
accomplished this at the University of Florida at
continued on next page >

Women of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
class of 1984
WINTER 2021

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Berks County Medical Society Medical Record Winter 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Berks County Medical Society Medical Record Winter 2021

Berks County Medical Society Medical Record Winter 2021 - 1
Berks County Medical Society Medical Record Winter 2021 - 2
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