Psychiatrist DAVID KIRKPATRICK has always loved strong girls and women. As a young boy growing up in Yellow Springs, Ohio, he learned to appreciate strong women like his grandmother Pearl as well as many of his female teachers and classmates. In later years, he was influenced by a myriad of strong women including his late wife Betsy and his current wife Clair.

David Kirkpatrick MA, MDBefore studying medicine and psychiatry, David Kirkpatrick taught psychology at two Atlanta colleges. After working at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, he completed his psychiatry residency at the University of British Columbia; then practiced in Vancouver and Ashland, Oregon, before returning to British Columbia in 1995. For ten years, he worked in Canada's poorest and wealthiest postal codes as a community psychiatrist and psychotherapist. He now practices these same specialtiesin Sechelt and West Vancouver, British Columbia. And continues writing poetry, humor, op-ed and health care pieces. He is married to Dr. Clair Ladner Hawes, herself a retired psychologist.