Michael Diviney, publisher
Occupation: Publisher of Medical Publications Ireland, which publishes Irish Medical Times and MIMS, a monthly index of medical specialities.
Personal/family: I have one daughter, Megan (13), and I live with my partner, Lorraine.
What figure from the world of medicine or health do you most admire? My sister who is a consultant anaesthetist. I am amazed how she manages to balance being a wife and mother with the demands of her professional life.
What other career might you have chosen? An academic career perhaps, although publishing and media have always been both challenging and rewarding for me.
If you could grant three wishes for the health service, what would they be? Shorten waiting lists, enhance communication between doctors and administrators, and increase investment where specialist numbers need to be increased.
What is your greatest fear? Right now a "correction" in the Irish residential property market.
Have you ever been a patient and were you a good one? I haven't been in hospital since childhood, but whenever I visit a GP I like to pretend that I'm stoical rather than hysterical.
When or where are you happiest? Probably when I was attending university, although you couldn't tell by looking at me at the time. More recently, any time spent in France or Italy.
How do you cope with stress? Watching sport of any kind, chocolate, walking in the Dublin/Wicklow hills and music.
What is the trait you most admire in yourself? Open-mindedness.
What is the trait you most dislike in yourself? Impatience.
Do you use alternative or complementary medicine or therapies? No.
Who or what makes you laugh? All of my friends. Spike Milligan and Eddie Izzard and all that kind of daft silly humour.
What is your motto? Give it your best shot.
What is your favourite TV or radio programme? Newsnight on BBC2 and Down to Business with Emmet Oliver on Newstalk.
What books would you bring to a desert island? Derek Mahon's Collected Poems, Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon and Joyce's Ulysses.
(In conversation with Fiona Tyrrell)