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Following Father's Bedside MannerWarning: From Hurricanes to Pandemics–Ready for Anythingby Anissa Anderson Orr 
Family, medicine and fly-fishing top Dr. John Walker's list of priorities. As preparedness medical director for the Texas Department of State Health Services, BCM medical school alumnus Dr. John Walker braces for the worst when disaster strikes but takes measures to minimize their impact on emergency rooms. Priority One is keeping everyone calm. Walker is uniquely qualified for the position, having dealt with emergencies since he began his career in medicine. He became interested in emergency medicine as a child while observing his father, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, in the emergency room. Walker vividly remembers watching him treat a terrified child whose lip was cut in two. "What impressed me so much was my father's bedside manner," said Walker. "Within minutes, with the warmth and tone of his voice and manner, he was able to transform that fear and terror into confidence and hope." Walker gravitated to emergency medicine, working as an emergency department orderly during high school in Houston and as an emergency medical technician during college in Williamstown, Mass. After earning his medical degree at BCM in 1982, Walker trained in Toledo, Ohio and began his clinical practice as an emergency physician in Austin, Texas. Walker spent more than two decades caring for patients with medical emergencies before deciding to focus on preventive medicine and public health because most cases he saw in the emergency department were preventable. He trained at the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Health Promotion and worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kaiser Permanente on the largest-scale study to date on childhood trauma. He also studied preventing violence in youth sports and has written and lectured extensively on the subject. In 2000, he continued his research on the childhood origins of behavioral public health problems as medical director of the Texas Department of Health's Bureau of Children's Health. There he learned that a lack of family nurturing stunts the developing brain, leading to emergencies of a different sort: higher risks of academic failure, substance abuse, irresponsible sexual behavior, suicide, violent crime and other serious behavioral health problems later in life. "Family nurturing capacity should be the 'fifth vital sign' routinely checked on all patients at each and every point of patient contact because of its powerful influence on morbidity, mortality and health care costs," Walker said. Walker currently serves in several leadership roles for the Texas Department of State Health Services and is an adjunct associate professor of public health at The University of Texas School of Nursing. He is also a colonel in the Texas State Guard Medical Reserve Corps and infectious disease advisor to the Texas State Military Forces. As preparedness medical director for the Texas Department of State Health Services, Walker is building on lessons learned from the health care community's response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. "Texas academic health science centers and local public health professionals have a historic opportunity to not only strengthen volunteer recruitment in responding to hurricanes, but also to build local surge capacity to protect communities against all hazards and pandemics that threaten the safety and security of their citizens," he said. When not preparing for emergencies, Walker enjoys fly-fishing with his son David, a senior at Middlebury College in Vermont. Walker and his wife Lesa, also a physician and a BCM alumnus ('80), celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary this past June. Of his many accomplishments, Walker said he is most proud of being a father and husband. Family factors high in his advice for medical students in terms of mapping out their careers. "Put your family first and set the example for society in terms of what is best for children," said Walker. Like father, like son. |
Patient CareHealthy Living for a Thousand, Alex ResearchFighting Obesity one Molecule at a Time Doctors are from Jupiter, Patients are from Saturn EducationA Lot's Changed in 40 Years... Sort Of Community ServiceAlumni & DevelopmentBuilding BCM and Biochemistry History Following Father's Bedside Manner More than a Street Sign: Advocates for Medicine College NewsAn Artist in the Medical Arena
Educating the Next Generation of Leaders
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Volume 2, Issue 3, Fall 2006 |
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