Martin Iguchi

Dean of the School of Nursing and Health Studies
Age: 59
Hometown: Los Angeles, Calif.
Time at Georgetown: 3 years

What is the greatest challenge as your job as Dean of NHS?
The greatest challenge as dean of NHS is to be sure on an everyday basis that we are providing the best possible educational opportunity for our students. That’s the bottom line it always is, and that is a tremendous challenge because it means doing everything we can to make this the best possible place for faculty to be successful because a lot of the time in a successful faculty and happy faculty, you don’t have the right people to do the teaching. It’s an incredible challenge to make certain that we hear the students and respond to the students’ needs and what they’re asking for in their education So that requires constant monitoring. And I think it’s an incredible challenge to anticipate what’s going to be needed next year or in the future, and to position the school to be ready to respond to the challenges ahead. So I think it’s the totality of that job and always to a great extent it’s always focused on “Are we producing the best possible educational opportunities for our students?” Now in addition, in the NHS, the challenge is a little bit bigger in that the students who come to the NHS all are dedicated to assisting in or helping others to enjoy better health. So all these individuals who come here are really interested in helping others. That’s a priority that comes with the field. So there’s also a lot of pressure in this school to provide opportunities for helping others, for being women and men for others in that it’s actually an expectation of every student who comes to this school, helping to develop and meeting that expectation, and helping to develop opportunities to meet that expectation is also a big challenge. 

What is the greatest challenge in your field of study?
In my own field, I think it’s one of those areas where the challenges are endless. Partly because the individuals who really have to deal with addiction in their lives, whether its the patient or the family, really experience the problem that overwhelms their lives in so many ways. And it’s responded to so poorly by our society, especially in our primary response of just punishing those who are using drugs rather than really understanding that addiction isn’t a choice. Being a part of a system that tries to help those individuals and it also … my focus in HIV, it’s a byproduct of having to deal with diseases and other problems that also accompany drug abuse, and so the challenges are really societal challenges. It requires a societal response. So a lot of my work has been to examine policies, promote dialogue about what’s working, what’s not working. A lot of my work has also related to treating individuals with substance abuse disorders, helping people to find a path to a healthier lifestyle, and some of it has to do with just helping individuals who have different associative problems like HIV, helping those individuals to find treatment, to de-stigmatize those individuals and make their lives more productive.

What would you be doing if you weren’t in academia?
You know, I’ve had a lot of opportunities to do other things other than academia, including some really high-paying jobs and I didn’t ever really want to do anything else. I do what I love. So I don’t really even have an answer for that question because I absolutely am doing what I love. I enjoy being a part of the solution in some ways. I enjoy teaching and supporting the learning process through this. This is how, from the very beginning, I saw as my career path. I had some really wonderful job offers in business but it didn’t change my path at all. I thanked the people who made me offers and kept saying that I know I want to help others and I want to be able to teach and to be a caregiver. For me, there really wasn’t any other path.

What drew you to Georgetown?
It really wasn’t a matter of moving away from any place, but it was a matter of being attracted to the Jesuit principles and its pedagogical approach to the Jesuits. And the emphasis on social justice. And being men and women for others, you know, cura personalis. And on reflection all were incredibly attractive to me. I thought that if the students and faculty of Georgetown practiced what they preached, then that would be a perfect place to work. And I found that as I was exploring the opportunity of coming to Georgetown that the faculty and students all seemed to completely embrace the philosophy and approach of the Jesuits in spirit and action. I found that to be very exciting and it resonated with my personal beliefs and actions and I was excited to have the opportunity to come here. That for me was really a really terrific fit.

Interview by Michelle Xu