I started out in journalism in the mid '90s working for the sister wire service of the 'Wall Street Journal,' which is called Dow Jones Newswires. Then I joined the 'Journal' in its Brussels bureau back in 1999.

There are a lot of engineering advances that lend themselves to being married with medical advances.

It's O.K. if you've got a smartphone app or a social network, and you go live with it before it's ready; people aren't going to die. But with medicine, it's different.

And it was back in the mid-1980s, and as I point out in a piece, that was when we are spending about eight percent of our gross domestic product on health care. And even then, we had the impression that so much of the excessive, aggressive medical treatment that took place at the end of life was not only unnecessary but it was cruel.

Healthy foods are great, but it's important to keep your body active. Your muscles only get stronger and build more endurance for everyday things if you're moving and get the blood pumping. Exercising stimulates certain brain chemicals and can put you in a better mood!

I am confident in myself and about my fitness.

New diseases like SARS and bird flu cause anxiety in the community. People get worried, some to the extent that it even affects their health. You feel very sad, and yet you must carry on and maintain your cool in very trying and difficult moments. You have to tough it out.