Q: What’s something people would be surprised to know about you?
A: I did martial arts for 20 years. I have my 2^nd degree black belt in tae kwon do. I competed in a national championship once a long time ago. 

Q: What is your favorite thing about your job?
A: Talking to patients. Getting to know patients. 

Q: How did you make your first dollar?
A: I was a camp counselor at an outdoor ropes course camp.

Q: What is a skill that you would like to learn?
A: I’d like to learn classical guitar and how to speak Spanish.

Q: Name a place in the world you want to see. 
A: The Northern Lights.

Q: What is your favorite way to unwind after a long day? 
A: Playing with my kids. Spending time with my family. 

Q: The best show you’ve binged in the last two years?
A: Ted Lasso

Q: If you could have a conversation with your younger self, what advice would you give?
A: Relax. It’s gonna be okay. 

Q: If you could have dinner with any historical figure, who would it be and why?
A: Albert Einstein. I’m not as smart as him but we see the world in a similar fashion. 

Q: What did you want to be when you were growing up?
A: Astronaut

Q: Beach or mountain vacation?
A: Beach

Q: Favorite or most-used app?
A: Other than Waze to get around, probably Instagram and Audible.

Q: Biggest pet peeve?
A: Chewing out loud.

Q: You won’t leave the house without …
A: My phone

Q: What would be your last meal?
A: Mexican with a margarita and dessert

Q: If you listen to only one song for the rest of your life on repeat, what would it be?
A: Louis Armstrong “It’s A Wonderful World”

Q: What book do you always recommend to people? 
A: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Q: What is your favorite part of MAOP?
A: Steph

Q: How long have you been involved with MAOP?
A: Since I was a medical student. 

Q: Why is it important to you to be part of your state osteopathic medical association?
A: I like the sense of community.

Joyce M. Johnson, DO, MA
Rear Admiral and Assistant Surgeon General, USPHS (ret)

Q: What’s something people would be surprised to know about you?

The reason I have so much energy is that I sleep a lot – at least 8 hours a night.

Q: How did you make your first dollar?

From around the age of 8 until I went to college, I had a vegetable stand at the end of our block.   Our family had a large garden in our back yard, and I would sell the extra produce.   I loaded the vegetables in my red wagon, wheeled it to the end of the block, put up a sign, and set up business. Pumpkins were the mainstay, but also included were other garden vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers.

Q: Name a place in the world you want to see.

I’ve been fortunate to have traveled and worked on every continent, and much of my work now focuses on the Arctic and Antarctic with the National Science Foundation.

The one place I would like to go is Komoto Island – I find the Komoto dragons fascinating.   I was at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, during feeding time – one dragon ate a 5 pound raw roast in one bite! 

Q: The best show you’ve binged in the last two years?

Rarely watch TV – don’t even have a show I watch regularly.

Q: How do you take your coffee? How many a day?

I rarely drink coffee, and when I do it’s always decaf.  The tiniest bit of caffeine keeps me awake for a long time – I’m probably a slow metabolizer of caffeine.  (Yes, that is a genetic variant.)

Q: If you could have a conversation with your younger self, what advice would you give?

To try to distinguish between what matters and what doesn’t.    It’s not always easy to do, but there is a tendency to invest a lot of anxiety into things that don’t matter.

Q: What did you want to be when you were growing up?

First, I wanted to be ballerina but I had no aptitude for music or dancing, so I recognized that wasn’t realistic.  (And that’s even before I realized how much practice and dedication it would take.)    I went to college wanting to be a cooking teacher – but on the first day learned they didn’t have a home economics program.   Thus, I became a bio major, then earned a master’s degree in hospital administration and finally went  on to medical school.   

I should add, though, that while a graduate student I was able to teach cooking to night students at the local community college.  First, I taught European cooking.   Then they needed someone to teach microwave cooking – when microwaves were still an expensive luxury item.   They sent me to learn from Amana, the primary manufacturer at the time.  The class was challenging to teach.  The students were all women who hated to cook.  Their husbands had just spent a fortune on the microwaves and  had unrealistic expectations – they expected gourmet meals to “magically” happen in the microwave.  The women had similar expectations, and didn’t want to do any cooking.  One student complained vehemently when she had to cut the vegetables.  Not a fun class.   However, I was also sent to “crock pot” school so I could teach “Camping with a Crock Pot.”   The idea was to assemble the dinner in  the crock pot and to cook it while off in the woods.   The class was fun but perhaps a little unrealistic. Plugging in a crock pot all day at a campsite can be challenging – the only outlet is often in the rest room.  I’m not sure I’d want my crockpot in the rest room all day.

Years later, as a physician and Director of Health and Safety (“surgeon general”) of the U.S. Coast Guard, my culinary interests were useful.   My job included responsibility for the Coast Guard’s cooks.   One year, at a national joint-services meeting, I lectured on the “History and Science of Chocolate” that included the 100+ participants molding chocolate clay, cocoa painting on cookies, and making chocolate bowls with balloon molds.  I still give a variation of that lecture today.   

Q: Beach or mountain vacation?

Neither one.  I prefer adventures.  My favorite vacations have involved volunteer medical work in remote places – Philippines after a major typhoon, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands as a Red Cross disaster worker after two major hurricanes, Indonesia with Project Hope,  etc.  As a family we have gone on several DoCare missions to  Guatemala and Peru.

On one family vacation to New Orleans, we stopped at Carville to visit the hospital for leprosy patients.   It was a very large, very old building.   The patients had adult-sized three-wheeled tricycles to go from place to place within the building.   We spent a day with one of the patients who had been there for decades – he shared a lot of his life story with us.  He was a remarkable person, who accepted his fate without anger.    (My son often says, though not necessarily complaining,  “While other kids were going to Disneyland on vacation, my parents took me to a leprosy hospital…”)

Q: Favorite or most-used app?

I use as few apps as possible – try to keep things simple.

Q: If you could have any superpower, what would it be? 

I’d just be happy with a better memory.

Q: What’s the greatest lesson you’ve learned so far in your life?

To be grateful when I’m able to combine something fun with something worthwhile.

There’s value in being both a generalist and a specialist – in medicine and life in general.

Q: What’s the greatest challenge you’ve ever had to overcome?

To accept my limitations…and then to  be grateful for all that I have.

Q: What would be your last meal?

It probably wouldn’t matter – I wouldn’t remember it for long afterwards anyway.

Q: If you listen to only one song for the rest of your life on repeat, what would it be?

My preference would be silence – no song at all.

Q: One thing you couldn’t live without?

In my travels to remote areas, I’ve lived without most everything.   The most important thing is common sense – and some say I live without it a lot…. 

Q: Ideal weekend?

Having nothing that needs to be completed by Monday.

Q: What four qualities in a significant other matter most to you?

Honesty; deserving of trust; sense of humor; appreciates good food but willing to eat anything I cook.

Q: How long have you been involved with MAOP?

I’ve been  involved with MAOP for as long as I can remember.

Q: Why is it important to you to be part of your state osteopathic medical association?

In Maryland the state osteopathic medical association is extremely important because there are so few DOs.   And, with the two new schools, it will be even more important with the new students as they learn to integrate into the osteopathic profession.

Beverly Maliner, DO, MPH
Colonel, Medical Corps, US Army (retired)

Q: What is your greatest pet peeve? 

A: Two actually. One is being held hostage to IT crap that steals my time and tests my patience but does nothing I can tell that makes my work easier. Second is the term “common sense”. It implies that most people agree with what the speaker says and that there is common understanding about the issue or situation at hand and what the speaker thinks should be. It’s a very false heuristic that the speaker uses in lieu of clarity of thought and communication. And has been shown to not exist in most cases.

Q: What is your greatest lesson? 

A: Be present at the table. And by table I do not mean the treatment table. I mean at the meeting table, in the organization, at the discussion, voting, and etc. Even when I seem to have nothing to contribute at that moment, being there creates recognition of my connection, gives me credibility to speak, and creates opportunity for me to speak.

Q: What is a skill that you struggle to learn? 

A: Patient listening

Q: Who are your 3 biggest heroes? 

A:  Rosa Parks, my right upper extremity and my left upper extremity

Q: Name one place you want to see? 

A:  Aurora Borealis which I experienced in Alaska in 2011.

Q: Why is being part of MAOP important to you? 

A:  I want to be at the table (see above), I want to build connections and I want to stay informed.

Tyler Cymet, DO

Q: How do you take your coffee?

Flavored, roasted or unroasted.  Sunday is my Turkish dark boiled coffee or Saudi green unroasted coffee day.  Every other day is more about quantity than quality with Keurig or hospital coffee filling the need. 

Q: What would be your last meal?

Last meal?  Shouldn’t be about the food, should be about the company.  Although I’ve often thought that Chinese food is my soulmate so Chinese with Holly and Ilana so no one gets jealous.

Q: Favorite or most-used app?

I’ve been a google man since fellow Marylanders put the app out there, just after they changed the name to Google (from BackRub).  Google Maps has about 4k of my photo’s with over 65 million views. Bing’s Chat GPT has been a guilty pleasure that I can see having a relationship with.  And Yelp Elite for the past 7 years so there’s that.  

Q: Name a place in the world you want to see. 

Nebraska and Idaho!!!  Been a goal of mine for years now.  Having taught in every other state in America, I have to complete the set and meet with medical people from these last two states.  

Q: What is your most memorable memory at MAOP?

MAOP at the beach.  A few years after MAOP got going, DOs were procreating and looking to share their lives with friends and children.  The meetings at the beach built bonds and shared experiences that have true value.

Taisei Suzuki (Mr.), DO, MIPH, CCHP-CP, FAAFP
Associate Program Director / OMM Site Director
Wright Center National Family Medicine Residency Program
Family Medicine
Unity Health Care, Washington D.C.
Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor
A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona

Q: What’s something people would be surprised to know about you?

TS: I was a vocalist for the University Jazz Band for one year when I attended University of Portland in Oregon. And, I sang in a Barbershop Chorus for nearly 6 years when I was in high school and college.

Q: What is your favorite thing about your job?

TS: Providing holistic high quality healthcare to the most vulnerable population in the cosmopolitan area using OMT and acupuncture treatments.

Q: What did you want to be when you were growing up?

TS: A flight attendant (still my dream job)

Q: Beach or mountain vacation?

TS: Beach!

Q: What’s the greatest challenge you’ve ever had to overcome?

TS: Learning English as a high school student when I came to the US as an exchange student

Q: What book do you always recommend to people?

TS: Touch of Life by Dr. Fulford!

Q: What is your favorite part of MAOP?

TS: Meeting wonderful osteopaths from the different parts of Maryland and learning about different specialties and how they incorporate Osteopathic Medicine into their practice.