Elizabeth Barrett-Connor: Instrumental Contributor to the Understanding of Midlife Well-being and Health in Both Women and Men

When asked what her motto or philosophy of life was in an interview for her local newspaper, La Jolla Light , Elizabeth Barrett-Connor’s response was that she did not have any one particular philosophy so much as an attitude: “My defining principle is that I am a pathological optimist.” Boundlessly curious, fearless, challenging, inspiring, and great fun to be with are some of the words her colleagues and mentees might use to describe her. Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, MD, FACP, FAHA, is internationally acclaimed with a stellar record of research accomplishments (over one thousand original research publications), is on all the highly cited researcher lists, has been a principal investigator on numerous major population studies and multicenter clinical trials, and has received extensive grants and awards. Her immense impact is not just in research but is also reflected through her teaching, encouragement, and mentorship of generations of physicians and scientists. Elizabeth Barrett-Connor was born in Evanston, Illinois, to Florence (Hershey) and Willard Barrett. Her father was a Cornell University PhD chemist who worked for ammunition companies during the Second World War years, so the family moved quite a bit, ending up in the little town of Lee, Massachusetts. They spent frequent Sundays on the lawn listening to the Boston Pops at Tanglewood and seeing Leonard Bernstein on orchestra. “Glory days,” she says. Elizabeth was an only child who loved horses, the outdoors, and visiting grandparents. Her Grandmother Barrett was postmistress in a small western New York village. Elizabeth learned to read from the postcards with her grandmother prior to delivery. Her Grandmother Hershey was from Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, and helped run a dairy. Mrs. Barrett, who thought that being lead cheerleader was not sufficient, pulled Elizabeth out of public high school and enrolled her at Northfield Preparatory School. Following Northfield, Elizabeth went …