Carey to address December graduates about life lessons Carey

Lisa Carey, associate professor of medicine and UNC Breast Center medical director, will continue Carolina’s tradition of faculty speakers at December commencement when she delivers the address during the 2 p.m. ceremony on Dec. 20 in the Dean E. Smith Center.

Carey will speak about things she has learned about life in a talk tentatively titled “Bedside Learning: My Education Since the 29th Grade.”

“I remain honored and perplexed by my choice as speaker,” she said. “However, I will be happy to talk about what I’ve learned – largely from my patients and my children – about choosing to spend your time doing things that are meaningful (not just to you!), about never feeling that you have it quite right (and that that feeling is OK) and about how the curve balls in life are the norm.”

People are better and stronger than they think they are, she said.

“I am a researcher, so I’m constantly reminded that what I don’t know far exceeds what I do know; a cancer doctor, so I’m constantly reminded of the importance of perspective and that people can and do handle the hardest things; and a mother, so I’m constantly hoping my kids accomplish what these kids at Carolina already have,” she said.

“I hope they take the time to congratulate themselves and don’t just rush off to the next challenge.”

Carey joined the faculty in 1998 and has served as the director of the breast center since 2003. After graduating from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1990, Carey was a resident in internal medicine and then a fellow in oncology at the school. She earned her master of science in clinical research at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in 1998.

Her research focuses on breast cancer, particularly why younger, premenopausal, black women are more likely to develop aggressive types of breast cancer. Carey is also involved in evaluating the use of specific tumor markers as predictors of response to new chemotherapy agents. Carey is the author or co-author of more than 70 manuscripts and book chapters.

During commencement, Carey will wear the regalia of Carol Johnson Johns, who was former president and an internationally recognized professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins. Johns pioneered the study of sarcoidosis, a disease that leads to inflammation and can affect various organs in the body.

“She died in 2000 at the age of 76, and I have the proud honor of wearing her regalia,” Carey said.

It was passed to Carey by way of Johns’ husband to Carey’s mentor, Nancy Davidson, who heard that Carey was giving the commencement address. “It is a remarkably touching gesture,” she said.

Parking for commencement will be available in the Manning and Bowles lots and the business school and Craige parking decks.