About the Author:
From the text of the 2001 book
Dr. Robert Gillio, is a 47 year-old father of four daughters would attend elementary and high school. He is a board certified pulmonologist who trained for six years at the Mayo Clinic, and then operated a successful practice. Treating critically ill patients suffering from asthma, emphysema, and lung cancer. He was the first winner of the prestigious “Doctor of the Year” award at his local hospital and loves the practice of medicine. He also loves to solve problems. He has been a recognized inventor and innovator in the fields of medication error prevention and dispensing, surgical simulation, telemedicine, and internet education with case-based simulation. He has been awarded 13 patents and has assembled teams to create companies that can take his ideas into distribution and to solve problems. He hopes to continue to spend more time with his daughters and to engage them and other students and the excitement of creativity, science exploration, and working with real experts on problem solving.
He gave up his successful practice and founded InnerLink Incorporated. He recruited intelligent, talented management and staff to involve students in world-class projects. These have included science projects on the International Space Station and a health education project geared to dissuade young people from beginning to smoke or to quit if they have already begun. The anti-smoking project includes research on inhalation injuries, exploring the use of telemedicine equipment for use in school science class and applying a community lung screening program and a career education curriculum.
Update from 2021
That was written 20 years ago. It’s awkward for me to read it since then a lot has happened. I picked up another daughter, an honorary daughter who moved in her senior year of high school remains part of the family ever since.
I’ve been involved in Hurricane Katrina with a similar set of community response needs and activities and had the pleasure of seeing successes achieved from our work. I edited a little book about that as well. (Lessons Learned: Successes Achieved). It was written with the help of people like you that experienced the disaster but grew or had successes.
I’ve been involved with, a series of things, but the main thing I’m focused on now is how do we create a resilient generation because stuff’s been happening this last years. I’ve been focused on trying to get the Force for Health Network, my latest social entrepreneurial enterprise off the ground. I truly believe that the younger generation needs to lead us after my generation has screwed up many of the decisions that we’ve made. I think we all need to take personal responsibility as we fight to protect ourselves and our neighbors with COVID complications, be aware of potential future terrorist attack, as we’re dealing with challenges to our education, work place and/or ability to earn an income.
I remain, retired from clinical medicine, but am working, in my hobby, to really try and motivate and create a movement. And I’m looking for, the opportunity to work with young interns in, high school and college and, mentors in the professional world to really help create a worldwide force for health movement and education resource. In addition to my wonderful daughters and family, and that’s the legacy I would love to leave behind.
Interested? What if we really could pull it off and if we can, why don’t we try now. Now’s the time and we’re the ones to do it. Join Force for Health and our great partners, and you’ll get a sense of where my heart’s been the last couple of years.