Janet Carney loved science classes as a little girl—but it was a movie that inspired her career in medicine. When she was 13 years old, she saw the movie "Brian’s Song," about a Chicago Bears running back who had cancer. "Ever since then, I wanted to become a doctor," says the 1980 grad and Saint Anselm College trustee.

For the past 21 years, she has specialized in helping people with foot and ankle problems, many of them caused by diabetes. She and her husband, Keith Mobilia, run a private podiatry practice on Staten Island, a blue-collar borough that is full of people who work on their feet: fire fighters, police officers, nurses, and sanitation workers.

"They’re not accountants. These people are on their feet all day long in order to make a living. It makes what I do really satisfying," says Janet, known professionally as "Dr. Carney."

While it was "Brian’s Song" that ignited the spark, an experience during her junior year at Saint Anselm "sealed her fate." She joined fellow biology major Robert Otis ’80, who was going to observe a local podiatrist, and found her future specialty. Mobilia went back to Dr. Howard Dananberg’s office several times, and made a decision to study podiatry. (Dananberg went on to make a name for himself in running shoe technology and develop a patent for a more foot-friendly high heel.)

While at Pennsylvania College of Podiatric Medicine, the Arlington, Mass., native experienced two life-changing events. She met her future husband and was diagnosed with diabetes—a disease that commonly causes foot problems. Her personal experience with the disease allows her to treat diabetics with empathy as well as expertise.

"More than half our practice is treating people with diabetes," says the doctor. "I know what they’re going through; we have a very good relationship." Part of this is due to her directness. "You can’t kid a kidder. I’m kind of relentless," she says. "If something’s not healing, I know they’re not taking care of themselves the way they should."

Mobilia followed podiatry school with a surgical residency. Her practice now deals with everything from reconstructive surgery to arthritis and athletic injuries.

To have more time with her active teenagers (a swimmer, a football player and an actor), Mobilia has reduced her work schedule to three days a week. "I spend a lot of time in the driver’s seat of my car. I bring all my books with me," she says.

The trustee’s love of New Hampshire comes from summer vacations with her parents and four siblings on Newfound Lake. Now, she takes her own family there whenever their summer schedules allow. On the other extreme, she’ll take Manhattan. "I love going to plays and museums, and Central Park Zoo." She’s not a shopper, though: her favorite thing is "to sit on a bench at 72^nd and 5^th, read the New York Times and watch everything that’s going on."

Mobilia is grateful for her Saint Anselm education and believes its adherence to high academic standards benefits students more than they realize. "I didn’t get As, but I was very well prepared for professional school. Once you get out there and compare yourself with other college graduates, you understand just how valuable your Saint A’s education was."