On being called

In Catholic grade school, I learned about the calling to be a nun. As much as I admired the nuns who taught me, I really didn’t want to be a nun. Yet, how could I say “no” if called? So I proactively prayed to not be called and promised to try to find something productive to do with my life. In 7th grade, I learned about the field of psychology, and by 8th grade I committed to the goal of earning a PhD in clinical psychology. I accomplished that goal on schedule. Beyond that, not much has been planned or orderly. Yet the underlying passion of my life and work has indeed been a calling after all. And this call to health has ultimately led me back to the spirituality I’d lost track of long ago as I escaped from the aspects of religion that were not healthy for me. This collection of work on health features the projects I’ve been immersed in — responses to the call — that have been most compelling to me since becoming a faculty member at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy. In this precious place, I’ve been blessed to work with so many wonderful collaborators, including many community members who have taught me so much. This collection aims to make sense of this calling in a way that I hope is more engaging than my CV.

Karen L Pellegrin (occasionally on linkedin here)