Scott Hamilton
WHEN FIGURE SKATER Scott Hamilton
was diagnosed with testicular cancer
in 1997, he fought the disease with the
same determination that helped him
win a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics.
But Hamilton’s battle
with cancer was one
victory he didn’t win on
his own. “The treatment
I got from everyone at
the Cleveland Clinic was extraordinary,”
he says. This year the Scott Hamilton
CARES Initiative—established at the
Cleveland Clinic’s Taussig Cancer Insti-
tute—hit the $10 million mark in its goal
to raise money for research and cancer
awareness. Hamilton, 51, believes we are
defined by how we deal with setbacks,
on and off the ice. His credo: “The only
true disability in life is a bad attitude.”
—Jeanne Dorin McDowell
CANCER
CRUSADER
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Aida Giachello, Ph.D.
A FRAMED QUOTE in Dr. Aida Luz Maisonet Giachello’s
Chicago office states: “If you have faith even as tiny as
a mustard seed, all things are possible.” This sentiment
eloquently describes Giachello’s own life journey, from an
impoverished childhood in Puerto Rico to the corridors of
academic excellence at the University of
Chicago—and ultimately to the Midwest
Latino Health Research, Training, and Policy
Center at the University of Illinois at Chi-
cago. There, Giachello works tirelessly to
collect and analyze data—and to use that
data to enact policies that promote good health, prevent
disease, and control chronic illnesses. Although some
progress has been made, much remains to be done. “The
poor, racial and ethnic minorities, the elderly, and women
are still not getting [adequate] access to health care,” says
the 64-year-old grandmother of five. —J.D.M.
LATINO-
HEALTH
ACTIVIST
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