Richard Carmona: I still look at my job as being a doctor of the peopl...

Because of the increasing rates of obesity, unhealthy eating habits and physical inactivity, we may see the first generation that will be less healthy and have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.

Richard Carmona

generations healthy parent

Do any of us actually want to live in a world where your boss can decide that he or she is morally opposed to mental health care? What if your employer was morally opposed to getting x-rays or antibiotics? How about just being forced to disclose your private medical information to your employer?

Richard Carmona

boss what-if just-being

If the childhood obesity epidemic remains unchecked, it will condemn many of our kids to shorter lives, as well as the emotional and financial burdens of poor health.

Richard Carmona

epidemics emotional kids

Surgeon general's job is to protect, promote and advance the health, safety and security of the nation.

Richard Carmona

surgeons safety protect

As 17th U.S. Surgeon General, I was privileged to serve as the nation's doctor. I focused much of my time on promoting proven programs and individual steps that lead to good health.

Richard Carmona

individual doctors steps

I grew up in Harlem. My grandmother was one of the best cooks around, but the first thing she did on Sunday mornings when she started cooking a daylong meal was to take a big block of lard from the back of the refrigerator and throw it into the pan. I know how Hispanics buy their food, and it is not always nutritious.

Richard Carmona

block sunday morning

Overweight and obesity is the second leading cause of death, killing 300,000 people a year, There is not a miracle pill that will lead to weight loss.

Richard Carmona

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I really think the most important thing I do is to protect the dignity and the integrity of the Office of the Surgeon General.

Richard Carmona

office integrity thinking

As a father, physician and nurse, I have a special place in my heart for children, and I know the brief window of opportunity we have to teach them simple lessons that can lead to a lifetime of good health.

Richard Carmona

heart father children

I used to be a real doctor. Now I just play one on TV.

Richard Carmona

doctors real play

I've had opportunities before to run for office - the Republicans recruited me when I was surgeon general, to run for Congress, to run against Gov. Napolitano. But I didn't feel it was my calling... I felt, 'Well, I'm flattered, but I really would rather stay and be the doctor of the nation and stay as surgeon general.'

Richard Carmona

doctors opportunity running

The overarching issue, really, is our surgeon general should be able to communicate transparently and honestly with the American public on all issues.

Richard Carmona

issues able should

As a young surgeon in training at the University of California San Francisco General Hospital in the early '80s, my colleagues and I were inundated with an epidemic of young men with fevers, rashes, swollen lymph nodes and eventually death.

Richard Carmona

epidemics california men

I am not a Hispanic candidate. I am an American candidate who happens to be of Hispanic heritage, who understands the culture, who has worked the border and has a unique understanding of those issues. But rest assured my job is to represent all Americans as a U.S. senator.

Richard Carmona

issues unique jobs

In 1967, I signed up for the Army where I earned an equivalency diploma, then went on to join the Special Forces. That was really was the turning point in my life. I became more disciplined and focused. I went overseas and was in combat, got wounded a couple of times, lost a lot of good friends but matured a great deal.

Richard Carmona

good-friend army couple

We need stem-cell research, no question about it. It is absolutely crucial for moving our medical science forward. We are trying to harness an untapped source of energy that can provide cures and possibly even prevent disease and suffering.

Richard Carmona

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I got into medical school at the University of California in San Francisco and did well. A lot of smart kids in medical school, and believe me, I wasn't not nearly the smartest one, but I was the most focused and the happiest kid in medical school. In 1979, I graduated as the valedictorian and was honored with the Gold Cane Award.

Richard Carmona

smart believe school

The reason I'm disabled is because I have wounds and injuries that I got while on active duty ... from parachute jumping to combat to gunshot wounds, all that stuff.

Richard Carmona

jumping reason stuff

In honor of Surgeon General Koop's legacy, we should ensure that the position of surgeon general is protected from political interference, funded appropriately and nominated from the ranks of career public health professionals who merit consideration, as is done in the other uniformed services.

Richard Carmona

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Trying to block women from getting access to contraception or defunding Planned Parenthood is completely nonsensical from a policy standpoint.

Richard Carmona

parenthood block trying

I still look at my job as being a doctor of the people, and I'm going to look at the science... If we can find a viable alternative that gave us harm reduction as people are withdrawing from nicotine, I'm happy to engage in that science and see if we can do that.