Carlos A. Gonzalez

Biography. A long time ago, when I was a teenager I felt a strong pull towardss science. So I studied medicine. Well, now, Medicine… Is it an art or a science? When I started my medical studies (1955) biochemistry, biophysics and physiology confirmed my belief that I was on the right track. A few years later (1959-61) I got my degree as Physician Surgeon (equivalent to M.B. B.S.) I was not so sure anymore. I had learned in clinical studies that human beings do not respond to the same tune as experimentation. In any case, I chose biochemistry as the science to which I would dedicate my life (expecting no less that an attempt at the Nobel Prize with my work). Today, almost sixty years later, I have not won the prize. Now I know that for that, you need more than I had and tons of luck. I have come to the same conclusion as physicists about light: medicine is both a science and an art, just as light is at the same time a wave and a particle. The scientific part does not need further explanation, but how to understand medicine as art? For this it is necessary to take into account how variable, infinitely variable, is the human mind. Beyond any doubt, the doctor-patient relationship and the results for the patient have a certain scientific component, and a great personal component of empathy. That applies fully to correcting excess weight. Biography proper: I did my post-graduate training in London U.K. (University College London) I got the titles of Master of Science (M.Sc.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.). For 27 years I was a professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the Central University of Venezuela and ended up being Director of the Institute of Experimental Medicine in the same Faculty. Thirty years ago I retired, but I did not abandon biochemistry. I only changed the area of interest, mainly due to a shocking fact: at fifty years of age, after a year and a half of retirement, I found that I was weighing 110 Kg., a hefty increase in a short time. Since then my scientific interest has been the control of body mass and from there the books that I have written recently, an attempt to help those who want to lose weight, a difficult endeavor for many of those who try. So we are presented with a new dichotomy: Overweight… Is it genetic or is it a lack of will power? There is no clear answer to this question, as there is for the nature of light. The human brain collects millions of years of biological evolution and overlaps thousands of years of life in society, primitive millennia ago, "modern" in our days. The result is a complex reality that does not allow definitive judgments regarding the problem of excessive body mass. However, there is enough knowledge to help those who want to lose weight, with the guidance of books like "Dieting in the 21st century". They can try it with high probability of success. Go ahead, make the attempt and put your heart in it (and your brain).