David A. Nardone, M.D. spent the majority of his career as a general internist, and also helped to make the OHSU VA hospital smoking-free in the early 1980s, which was something almost unheard of at the time. After leaving clinical practice, he undertook volunteer work for the Washington County Disabled, Aging and Veteran services and had a seat on the workforce committee of the Oregon Health Authority. Nardone elaborates on his family background and childhood in Columbus, Ohio, where one of his childhood friends' father and uncle were medical practitioners who Nardone later shadowed as a medical student. He earned an arts degree in 1964 at the University of Notre Dame and his medical degree at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. Nardone served as a regimental surgeon during his service in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War (an administrative title, as opposed to a functional one). Upon his return to Oregon in June 1975, he describes how he 襥nherited a mess� in the emergency room admitting office. Other topics of interest in this interview are Nardone's teaching experiences, public service and the importance of giving back, and the resilience of caregivers.