Doug Heckinger

We have two "honorary" daughters, Kasey and Tina, who call us Mom and Dad. Both came to the U.S. to study. After graduating, both married American guys.

When I left Paly, I planned to become a bush pilot in some remote area of the world that didn't have access to roads (think "Amazon jungles" or Irían Jaya, near Indonesia). However I soon found out that I was not cut out for the mechanical repair part of the training. So I changed to linguistics. I majored in Cross Cultural Communications. I taught English as a second language (ESL or ESOL) for several years, with a special interest in accent reduction, which is very hard for many people. Americans (from the US) are notoriously horrible at Spanish pronunciation.

I became interested in health research, considering all the evidence-based methods, not just what traditional medicine subscribes to.

What a different life from the years in Palo Alto. I have so much to be grateful for.

I could run faster in Cross Country than our very own former(?) world champion triathlete, Mark Allen, who was "just a swimmer" (ha ha) at Paly. And maybe I could ride my bike farther, but NO MORE. Mark has had a great career as a triathlete.