Jane Sullivan-Durand, MD
In our conservative state of NH, it takes a great deal of courage to move outside of the box of accepted norms. Never has it been so clear to Dr. Jane Sullivan-Durand that stepping outside of the box is indeed what she needed to do in order to establish herself as an expert in the area of Behavioral Medicine.

Manor: What is your background?

Jane: I earned my MD degree at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and completed my Family Practice Residency in West Virginia. I then practiced family medicine for six years from '88 to '94. I enjoyed helping people with physical illnesses that were affected by their lifestyle: stress-related migraine headaches, depression, anxiety, etc. I wanted to help people manage these and found that the 15 minute prescription pad practice just wasn't enough. I also discovered that the Western medicine was helpful for some conditions, but did not work for other conditions. I then investigated Alternative and Complimentary Medicine and found that many of these therapies could fill the gaps of Western Medicine. During this time, my husband and I were struggling with infertility and I had had a miscarriage. It became clear to me that the stress in my life was absolutely contributing to my infertility. I made the decision that I had to leave the practice. For years, it had become clear that it was just too hard for us as a couple and as a family to be managing this practice together.

Manor: What did you do next?

Jane: I went to the Herbert Benson program at the Deaconess Hospital in Boston. His program, the Mind Body Institute, is a professional research and treatment center as well as training program for physicians. I then developed a consultative practice in behavioral medicine. My patients are people with a stress-related or chronic medical problem that isn't improving with traditional medical means. I do a comprehensive medical evaluation, and a lifestyle and psycho-social evaluation. I pull it all together to sort out what medications and medical interventions would be helpful, and what lifestyle and alternative medicine therapies could be most effective for each patient.

Manor:: What is most important in your life?

Jane: Making a difference to others. When I am gone, I want there to have been a significant change in medical care where my work has made a big impact.

Manor: Tell us about your wonderful program called "It's Your Time to Be Well."

Jane: "It's Your Time to Be Well" is an 8 week program for people who are feeling the physical effects if stress. It covers relaxation and meditation. I also discuss the connection between food and our moods and help people develop an exercise program they can live with. People learn how to manage their lives when things don't go well and how to reduce the impact that this can have on them physically and emotionally. Anger management is especially important; there are lots of angry people out their. I know because I used to be one of them.

Manor: Tell us about your personal medical transformation.

Jane: After I left the family practice, I began undergoing infertility treatment. I had a terrible complication and developed an E coli pelvic infection and peritonitis. Unfortunately, I was misdiagnosed and sent home. I was lying in bed feeble, couldn't move and realized I should examine myself. That's when I discovered the peritonitis, called my husband and went into the hospital. Surgical intervention cleared the infection, but an enormous amount of scarring remained. I had been sub-fertile, and after that procedure, I became truly infertile. My tubes were absolutely scarred and closed. I then worked with an incredible surgeon in Boston who allowed me to direct my care, within reason. He would say, "What do you think we should do Jane,?" It felt like a beautiful dance between us. Unfortunately, two pelvic surgeries later, I was still infertile.

I initially did the mind body work in order to be able to come to grips with the infertility, to deal with the grief and loss. Of course, there was always hope that the mind body work would help resolve my infertility. All of the sudden one day I knew that I was no longer infertile, and the next month we conceived spontaneously. I know this is unbelievable, because I had just been told that there was no chance.

Manor: Tell us the time period there.

Jane: I left my practice end of June '94, had the procedure that when awry in August of '95. In 1998, I did the intense mind-body work and in April of '98 I realized I was no longer infertile. We conceived in May of '98 and I delivered a beautiful baby girl in February 1999.

Manor: As a medical doctor, you gave people permission to be well. And to be a part of their own wellness. Tell us about that.

Jane: The traditional medical paradigm is that sick people come to a doctor and the doctor is the parent, the patient is the child and the parent tells the child what to do and as long as the doctor's instructions are followed, the child gets better, in theory. Sometimes it works well, and sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't work, it's often because the patient's perspective or experience is not taken into consideration. Sometimes when people go to a physician and if the patient's story falls outside the paradigm of the physician, the physician writes that off. That invalidation actually reduces a person's ability to trust themselves and their own intuitive knowledge. By validating people's experiences, even if they are different that I might expect, I allow them to become part of the process. I listen to their history very carefully to understand how and why they are suffering. I then help people discover the ways in which they may be contributing to their own suffering. This empowers them because they have more control to relieve their problem. Once the burden of suffering is eased, the person is better able to help themselves heal. This may be through medical treatments, lifestyle changes, or possibly alternative or complimentary therapies.

Manor: So you obviously use the statement "physician heal thyself "because you got well and you conceived. How do you continue to take care of yourself and maintain balance and practice wellness?

Jane: If I don't take care of myself, imbalance occurs. I really attend to my sleep, because I don't tolerate sleep deprivation well. I take a yoga class every Friday night with my husband, Lynn. We combine it now with a date night, and it's wonderful for our marriage and for my life. Meditation really does provide enormous balance. I have an exercise workout that I love to do with weights. I'll go out and play capture the flag with my son, who is really hard to keep up with. I avoid caffeine, I have a very regular breakfast, lunch...I eat three meals a day. I try to stay vegetarian if I can. I am constantly evaluating the amount of time that I am spending with work. Sadly, I don't have a lot of time with friends or socializing, but I am actually very content and happy.

Manor: Tell us who your key influences or your key mentors are in your life.

Jane: Christine Northrup. I was a medical student on the wards in Portland, ME before she became famous. She was a practicing OBGYN. I'll never forget the day she pulled me aside and informed me that there was this American Holistic Medical Association movement and that there were other physicians who thought the way I did. That was so inspirational to me. My husband Lynn Durand provides me with an enormous amount of love and support. And he can be my most challenging critic, as he challenges me to mainstream my concepts to bring this information to the medical community in such a way that they can hear it.

Manor: Where do you see yourself 5 to 10 years from now? What are you going to be doing?

Jane: I will always maintain a private practice until probably age 55-60. Helping people on an individual basis is rewarding and keeps me in touch with what people need daily. And yet I have a vision for a change in health care that I need to promote in some other way. I am still in the process of developing another forum, be it public speaking, writing, or the development of a teaching program that will allow my vision to manifest more widely. I always keep in mind the concept of balance. I do have these children who are very assertive in their time with me, which is wonderful. But I did ask Wesley, our son, whether or not he felt like I was meeting this goal of being able to help people professionally and yet spending enough time with them. He said, "Absolutely, you sit with me at night while I'm falling asleep and that's really comforting to me." He's nine and he said that he was really very proud to be my son when I was speaking at the NH Hospital Association meeting.

Manor: What advice would you give to other professional women as they are growing their businesses or changing stream in their careers about how to maintain balance and about how to live what they really truly want in their hearts.

Jane: Be honest with themselves about what is working and what isn't. The consequences of not listening to the problems becomes so painful and illness-related that it is much harder to deal with. So do something early. Get help if you need it. Sometimes therapy is a good forum , and sometimes it's not. I found that professional coaching turned out to be a much more effective medium than therapy. You can't possibly do it alone. To ask for help requires much more strength and much more courage than it does to not ask for help. Don't just sit there - do something. There is always something wonderful in each aspect of our lives and the trick is to find that. I am so incredibly blessed in marriage. After 6 years, we are in practice together again. What allowed us to work together again was when we put our egos and our need to be right aside, and we each took responsibility for our own emotional reactions and for making ourselves happy.

Manor: Where are you working together?

Jane: We are working together at the Center for Integrative Medicine in Concord. That is a collective of practitioners both allopathic, Western- trained physicians and alternative providers, naturopaths, chiropractors, massage therapists, herbalists. It's just one year old. Lynn is the medical director for the whole practice.

Manor: Readers, watch for the name Dr. Jane Sullivan-Durand, because she's about to explode onto the national arena with her very wonderful and beneficial message. "It's Your Time To Be Well"; you own it and you can have it.