Catherine Harmon Toomer, M.D. | “Wonderlustful”

By Karin Calloway

Dr. Catherine Harmon Toomer, 50, of Aiken, is a family medicine physician at Barnwell Family Medicine and serves as county medical director with Hospice Care of South Carolina. She and her husband, Anthony L. Toomer, M.D. (a radiologist) have three children, ages 14, 16 and 30, and two grandchildren. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Inc. and serves on the board of Naomi’s Fund (supporting pediatric cancer awareness, care and research). She enjoys playing the violin, painting, sculpture, singing, community theater and reading.

Wanted to be when she grew up: A doctor (since I was 8 years old).

First Job: Checking meal cards at my university dorm cafeteria.

Dream job: A job much like what I am doing now—helping people reach their full health potential through direct patient care or through policy development.

Important life lesson: Don’t believe everything you think.

Quality she admires the most: Fortitude.

Surprising fact about Catherine: I learned to ride a horse at 40 years old.

Favorite indulgence: Spending hours alone in an art museum.

Planner, Doer or Dreamer? I’m all of the above—I dream it, plan it, then do it. I am originally from Michigan, but grew up in Nairobi, Kenya. My high school classmates are scattered around the world and I hadn’t seen most of them since leaving Kenya for college. I thought it would be wonderful get together again in Nairobi. After 8 months of planning, 45 out of 60 classmates met for the first time in 30 years.

Best thing about being a mom: Being exposed to new and popular culture.

Hardest thing about being a mom: Making parenting mistakes I promised myself I wouldn’t. Super power she’d like to have: To remove pain of any kind.