Jill BellPresident of the Irish Association of Health Stores and owner of Well and Good Health store in Midleton, Co Cork.
Personal/family:Husband Bruce and two adult children, Vicky and Rory.
What figure from the world of medicine or health do you most admire?
I admire Jan de Vries who has secured Alfred Vogel's legacy as the founder of modern European herbalism and is a great communicator and a talented practising naturopath.
What other career might you have chosen?
Environmental archaeology.
If you could grant three wishes for the health service, what would they be?
I would ensure that our health authorities focus far more on health maintenance rather than curing disease - hospitals are overloaded with admissions caused by lifestyle problems and iatrogenic disease (side effects of medication). I would ensure a greater appreciation of the value of complementary and alternative medicine in prevention and treatment. Finally I would implement better management to sort out the A&E crisis.
What is your greatest fear?
That genetically modified technology is given free rein resulting in pharmaceutical companies, not farmers, owning the seeds of life.
Have you ever been a patient and were you a good one?
I was a patient overnight some years ago and nobody complained about me.
When or where are you happiest?
Anywhere in France; in Glenbeigh looking across at Slieve Mish and Dingle; and just being at Ferrypoint in Co Cork where I live.
How do you cope with stress?
I try to think what I would say to somebody else who was in my position. I also find that a good unladylike roar, out of anyone's hearing, helps.
What is the trait you most admire in yourself?
Tolerance, but that can sometimes be annoying because it's too easy to see the other person's point of view in an argument.
What is the trait you most dislike in yourself?
Foolish optimism - I still haven't learnt how to change a wheel on a car.
Do you use alternative or complementary medicine or therapies?
I take Udo's Essential Fatty Acids, high-dose vitamin C and horse chestnut.
Who or what makes you laugh?
My sister Erica and I always have great giggles.
What is your motto?
No man is an island.
What is your favourite TV or radio programme?
Morning Ireland.
What books would you bring to a desert islands?
The complete works of Yeats and Heaney.