PUNDIT PROFILE /BARBARA L. KORNBLAU
What inspired you to become a healthcare
provider?
What is your most marked characteristic?
My passion. When I am passionate about a
cause, no one can stop me.
My mother took me to work with her long before
we started to observe “Take Your Daughter to Work
Day.” My mother worked in a nursing home. That led
me to become a candy striper and work at a camp
with children with cerebral palsy. I wanted to help
people live better lives.
What do you consider your greatest
achievement?
Why did you focus on pain management?
I have experienced chronic pain most of my life.
Focusing on pain management began as shameless
selfishness. I needed to know what the options were
for my own life since most healthcare providers I saw
did not know how to help me. I realized many other
people were in the same situation with the lack of
knowledgeable providers.
Who were your mentors?
I have been lucky to have had many mentors
along the way. Three stand out. My father, Sol
Kornblau. Dr. Judith Leavitt, a professor of History of
Medicine and Public Health and Women’s Studies at
the University of Wisconsin–Madison. And Dr. Reba
Anderson, an occupational therapy colleague.
My father instilled in me the values of social justice
in remarkable ways. We worked together on many
causes, the last one when in honor of his 90th birthday.
I took courses from Dr. Leavitt and I babysat for her
children. She was an incredible role model as a professional woman and a great mother. She allowed
me to take upper level courses as a sophomore, encouraged high academic standards, and taught me
to write. She also taught me to do qualitative research
before such a thing formally exist VB