MARIANO-ELEANOR

Excerpts from article published in San Diego Union Tribune on 4/19/2020:

With a father who was a steward in the U.S. Navy and retired as a Master Chief, Connie Mariano moved around a lot as a child, settling in Imperial Beach after her father retired.  She went to Mar Vista High, then University of California, San Diego, and joined the Navy as a way to pay for her medical degree.  In 1992, she became a White House physician and eventually took care of three presidents: both George Bushes and Bill Clinton.  She traveled with presidents too, and took care of their families, staff, and even tourists.  “If you come to the White House and pass out on the floor, we’ll take care of you,” she said in a 2000 Union Tribune interview.  “Come to think of it, we have met the most interesting people from around the world that way.”  Among her milestones: the first military woman to become a White House doctor, the first female director of the White House Medical Unit, and the first Filipino-American in U.S. history to become a Navy rear admiral.