Remembering Doctor Donna Brooks

Donna L. Brooks, M.D., beloved physician, sculptor, and philanthropist died on March 9, 2014 at her home in La Jolla. Donna was born on November 7, 1933 in Los Angeles. She was the eldest child of Milo Brooks, M.D. and Eva Brooks, both from the homesteading tradition of the prairies. Donna graduated from Pomona College in 1955 and became a physical therapist. Caring for those stricken by polio, Donna was imaginative in expanding their quality of life, even arranging an ambulance to bring a patient in an iron lung to her home for Thanksgiving dinner and helping him to taste, even though he could not swallow, each of the dishes served.

Finding her ability to serve her patients limited, Donna was determined to become a physician. In 1961 she enrolled in the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania where she remained a loyal and engaged mentor of the medical school until her final months  She enjoyed Ob/Gyn especially because of her ability to see healthy people as well as sick people, and because she was engaged in the complete spectrum of care, from the intimacy of birth through surgeries when needed to the final intimacies of death.

In 1969 she settled in San Diego where she became a leader in providing comprehensive women’s health care, practicing as an OB/Gyn and surgeon primarily at Mercy Hospital. She created new methods of care for women with disabilities, and was first to initiate technologies and methods which improved care. Donna was highly regarded both as a mentor and as a colleague for her demanding standards of excellence, her compassion and kindness which went far beyond any professional requirements, and her deep appreciation for the whole person.

One of the many stories told of Donna’s acumen was of a weekend morning when she was out doing errands and came across a young woman in obvious pain sitting outside a pharmacy. Following their conversation, Donna offered to see her at a nearby hospital where she diagnosed an ectopic pregnancy, and operated to save the young woman’s life. Her students teased her for ‘picking up patients’ but their admiration for her diagnostic abilities and her genuine interest in others was profound.

Recognizing that most women found a visit to a medical office cold and unwelcoming, Donna made her office a haven of beauty and comfort, even replacing the small paper shells women commonly wore with warm and colorful wraps. Illness forced her to retire in 1991. At the time, a colleague wrote: “Your name has been a symbol of excellence and kindness; a true practitioner of the art of medicine.” The story of Donna and her physician father, Milo, was published before her 80th birthday: Making Doctors: A Century of Lessons on the Practice of Healing, by Heather Wood Ion. The book details the qualities of these extraordinary physicians and is a primer both for those entering the study of medicine as well as for resilience and transcendence.

In recent years, with her partner Cathy Conheim (at left with Donna, Dolly & Henry), she founded and supported two national public health innovations: The Real Women Project which helped overcome negative body image issues, and The Just Me Project, which uses the voices of animals to help people learn that it is not the events of your life which define you, but your responses to them.

As her partner commented, it has been a privilege to witness to what makes someone worthy of trust and of the life of service to others. Donna was not only a physician or friend; she became an advocate and wise adviser through life’s journey. She was admired and adored by those fortunate enough to know her. She taught by example how to live with appreciation of all living things, and how to live with dignity through all forms of adversity. In recent weeks she said “Life owes me nothing, I have had the great privilege of meaningful work and meaningful love, and along the way a lifetime of meaningful adventures.”

Donna’s quiet manner did not always make obvious her quick wit, her tenderness for animals and her love of nature.  For the past fourteen years, she spent most weekends at her beloved home in Julian. Her love of medicine, her love of life and her profound serenity, gave her a rare and precious glow. Her final act of generosity was to donate her body so that some future doctors could learn, as she did, the wonders and mystery of the human body.  She was always grateful to donors who recognized the importance of such learning made possible by their gifts to medical research.

Donna Brooks was predeceased by her parents and both brothers. She is survived by her partner, Cathy Conheim, by her stepdaughter Ellie Glasser, and stepsons Eric and Bruce Weisman of San Diego, by Cindy and Vincent Brooks, niece and nephew in Los Angeles, by her sister-in-law Janet Walsh, by her three furry ‘children’: Henry, Dolly and Higgins, and by a huge community of students, colleagues and friends. A lovely Celebration of Life ceremony was held at the Scripps Mercy Hospital auditorium on Thursday, March 27.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to The Athena Charitable Trust, 5411 Bahia Lane, La Jolla, CA 92037 for the Donna Brooks Medical Scholarship Fund or to any person or cause which makes this world a better place. “Dr Mom” has gone on the wings of the angel clouds to the next life, but will remain with us forever.