Credo: Bayview Child Health Center's Dr. Nadine Burke

Dr. Nadine Burke, the medical director of California Pacific Medical Center’s Bayview Child Health Center, says that something about the Bayview Hunters Point community that most people don’t realize is the community's cohesiveness - people take care of each other. (Mike Koozmin/Special to The Examiner)

SAN FRANCISCO — Dr. Nadine Burke, the medical director of California Pacific Medical Center’s Bayview Child Health Center, tells us about the influence of family, the joy of working with children and her desire to see them reach their full potential.

Was there a person that most influenced the way you live your life? I would say my dad. He’s a really strong and committed and dedicated person, and he does a lot of work for others on behalf of the underserved. So I think I learned a lot of that from him. I [also] have a really close family member that we lost at a fairly young age. I think that is a lot of what drew me into working with this population and working with health care in general, and reducing health disparities, because I feel like when I take care of the patients that I see, I want to treat every one of them as a member of my own family.

What is your favorite part of your job and your least favorite? My favorite part of my job is the babies! Oh, my god, they’re fantastic! They’re so cute. It’s the kids. I love seeing kids at every stage of development. The least favorite? That’s easy: paperwork.

What are a few great things about the Bayview Hunters Point community that most people don’t realize? I think one of the great things about the community is the community cohesiveness. People take care of each other. It’s a really beautiful thing to see. It happens in a way that’s different than many other neighborhoods in The City. Everybody knows what’s going on and people know their neighbors, and people help out their cousins and take care of each other’s babies.

What is the hardest lesson you’ve learned? The hardest lesson I’ve learned is that I can’t do everything. It’s very hard for me to see people, and especially children, who are suffering and wish that I could do more and not be able to.

Is there something that you haven’t done yet that you know you must do before you die? Well, I just signed up for the Portland Marathon. It terrifies me a little bit because I’m not sure if I’ll be able to finish it, but that was definitely something I always wanted to do before my knees give out. So, I’m going to be running my first marathon in October.

Where do you find inspiration? One thing that definitely inspires me is the recognition of the tremendous privilege that I have. When I graduated from medical school, I literally was in tears. There’s a song by Nina Simone that goes, “I wish I knew how it would feel to be free.” And you just think about the number of people who never get to live out their potential. That’s a big part of the reason why I work with families in Bayview Hunters Point. Because I think many of the children in this neighborhood, they also don’t get the chance to live out their potential — whether it’s extensive health problems or whether because it’s violence in the community — and I think that is the greatest injustice.