Barbara Kaminsky, who leads the Canadian Cancer Society's B.C. and Yukon division, doesn't hesitate when you ask her who has been a formative influence in her career as a cancer fighter.
"It was a woman named Isabelle Kelly,'' said Kaminsky, referring back to an early job. "She was the only woman in a high-profile position in the [BC] Ministry of Health – everyone else was a man. I wanted to learn from her what it was like for her to be a woman in a man's environment.
"She allowed me to shadow her to go to all sorts of meetings, some of which were quite challenging in terms of the behaviour she was on the receiving end of," Kaminsky said. "We would then debrief after the meeting, and she would give me her perspective of what was going on. I was so grateful for her candour and transparency."
Unlike some leaders who seem to have their lives mapped out well in advance, Kaminsky had only a vague notion in her undergraduate years at the University of British Columbia (UBC) of what she wanted to do in life.
"I started off studying English. I knew that I wanted to do something to help and influence people, and I was very interested in writing."
She also studied what she called "fun topics" like sociology, political science and even religious studies. Even now, though, she looks back and says it has served her well.
"I would say that the benefit of having a general arts education is that it teaches you how to think, how to learn and how to be curious.
"It doesn't replace the need for a certain amount of technical expertise, but we can make a mistake in being too narrow in our interests and too narrow in our skills. I wouldn't have known that in my youth when I first got my degree, but it certainly has paid off in the long run."
Her "need to help" led her into social work, and she got her first job at Vancouver General Hospital as a project co-ordinator. However, she soon learned that she wanted to work at a level where she influenced policy.
She returned to school, this time to UBC's faculty of medicine to pursue a science master's degree in health services planning and administration. Ultimately, she responded to a headhunter seeking an executive director for the Canadian Cancer Society, and more than 18 years later she is still with the organization in its top position.
Today, she feels proudest about steering the society toward making cancer prevention a major priority. She has led a national initiative, chairing the national prevention working group of the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control, which went on to become the fully funded Canadian Partnership Against Cancer.
On a provincial level, her leadership has helped establish paid nicotine replacement medications and a provincewide colorectal cancer screening program. Her work has also led to B.C.'s ban on youth under 18 using tanning beds.
Sadly, her father, who was very ambitious for her and her sisters, was a smoker who, 20 years after quitting, fell victim to the disease that dominates her life today.
"When I was 20 years of age, my father died of lung cancer. He had aspirations for his daughters but never got to see that. I felt cheated that I never had a chance to show him that dreams can come true." •
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