Political Leaders 2007 Profile: Dan Carey

Name: Daniel Carey   
Age: 47
Born:  I was born in Tokyo, Japan.  My father was a fighter pilot and engineer in the Air Force, so we moved every 2 or 3 years.  Mostly, I went to elementary school in Maryland and North Carolina, junior high in Tampa, Florida, and high school in Hampton, Virginia.
Current Digs:  I live and work in Lynchburg.
Occupation:    Cardiologist
Favorite part about the job: Getting to help people and families in a very concrete and personal way, in a setting that has a sense of urgency if not drama, while using whatever personal, intellectual, and technical skills I can muster.
First job ever? The rule in my house was that you couldn’t mow lawns for money until you were 13.  I turned 13 in Tampa, FL, and mowed lawns year round there.  I learned you had to keep up, and that it is incredibly hot in Florida in the summer while mowing lawns with a push mower.
Favorite book? East of Eden by John Steinbeck.  It remains for me a great allegorical tale of America, about the movement from East to West, the relationship of past and present, and the playing out of good and evil.
Favorite movie?    The English Patient
Must-see TV?  Mad Men.  This is a highly stylized revisionist approach to American life and culture in the early 60’s.  It can be both poignant and cynical, and is extremely well written and acted.  Thank goodness for TiVo.
Comfort food? My wife’s rendition of shrimp and grits.
What's in your car CD player right now? Einstein:  His Life and Universe, by Walter Isaacson.
Next journey? Big Sky, Montana for skiing in February
Last gift you received?  A wrist watch from my wife.
Whom do you admire and why?  One of my enduring personal heroes remains Abraham Lincoln.  He has come to be revered, even in the South, as an almost prophetic figure in his quest for both preserving the Union and for ending slavery.  I think he is underappreciated, however, as a master politician, and he was consistently underestimated by his peers prior to his presidency.  He was a superb communicator who also had a strong sense of what change the political and social fabric could bear at any one time.  He knew where he wanted to take the country, but had a sense of pace grounded in the political realities of his day.
Best advice you ever got?  Dr. Ken Crispell, one of my mentors at UVA, met my then girlfriend Kim while out visiting in San Francisco.  He pulled me aside and said, “This one, Dan’l, is a keeper.”  He was so very right, and I have been honored that she has considered me “a keeper” these last twenty years.
If you could have dinner with any one currently living, whom would it be and why? Bill Clinton.  Whether you love him or hate him, the man certainly has ideas and knows how to communicate.  His political sense is still likely the strongest of all living presidents, and I would love to ask him a broad array of questions of how to move the country in a positive direction on a variety of fronts.
Describe a perfect day.  It would be a Saturday after a busy but productive week.  I would start with an early morning bike ride with friends on the Blue Ridge Parkway, returning home just after my wife and kids got their day going.  The day would be about running errands and doing chores together around the house, done with purpose but little time pressure.  We would then have a family cookout with great food and good but not great wine.  After dinner we would watch one of our favorite movies, such as October Sky or Pan’s Labyrinth. 
One thing most people might be surprised to learn about you? That I cry far too easily at movies, books, and songs that evoke a certain notion of courage, nobility, or self sacrifice.
Ambition, political or otherwise?  To transition my current service to one person or family at a time in my medical practice to service to the public at large.  I would like to make a difference as an elected or appointed official, building on my interests in education, health care, and environmental and energy issues.