Brendan Hayes, President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland and pharmacist in Portumna, Co Galway.
Personal/family:I'm a third generation pharmacist serving the area of Portumna. My daughter, Ailbhe, is on track to take the pharmacy torch into the fourth generation.
What figure from the world of medicine or health do you most admire?
As a vocational pharmacist I admire Josef Klarer, a little-known Bayer chemist who, in 1932, discovered the first synthetic medicine that could treat a range of bacterial infections.
What other career might you have chosen?
A concert musician.
If you could grant three wishes for the health service, what would they be?
That Ireland would take the lead in a responsible use-of-alcohol policy. That health promotion activity would extend to the provision of safe walkways and cycle ways around our beautiful country. That comprehensive screening and health promotion services were available through Ireland's pharmacy network.
What is your greatest fear?
Locked-in syndrome - having read the Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby.
Have you ever been a patient and were you a good one?
I cut my leg with a Stanley knife about 10 years ago and I had a mole removed last year. I fully trusted those to whom my care was entrusted.
When or where are you happiest?
I am at my happiest when I get unexpected appreciation from a patient when something I did for their care made a difference. Or when I'm on the road with my foot on the accelerator on my motorbike or on stage with my trad pals.
How do you cope with stress?
Pragmatically. Although family, friends and colleagues may well have a different view.
What is the trait you most admire in yourself?
Optimism.
What is the trait you most dislike in yourself?
My friends sometimes advise that my dress style could be more demure.
Do you use alternative or complementary medicine or therapies?
As a young pharmacist I completed courses in homeopathy, herbal medicines, learnt Transcendental Meditation, had my chakras aligned and studied the Enneagram. However, I trust the scientific method and believe that evidence tends to beat anecdote nearly always.
Who or what makes you laugh?
Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail.
What is your motto?
The lights are on - this is not a dress rehearsal.
What is your favourite TV or radio programme?
I watch virtually no TV. I love to loll in bed on a Sunday morning and listen to Sunday Miscellany on RTÉ 1.
What books would you bring to a desert island?
All of Martin Amis' books except House of Meetings, John Banville's The Book of Evidence, Walden Pond by Henry David Thoreau.