Biography
Barbara Goolsbee Bollier, MD
I am a fourth-generation Kansas Citian although I was born in Galveston, Texas. From age two to five I lived in Fairway, and then moved to Mission Hills where I attended Prairie, Indian Hills, and Shawnee Mission East schools. My senior year I was selected to be the student representative on the East Area Advisory Board, a tremendous learning opportunity for me at such a young age. I attended the University of Kansas for my undergraduate studies, where I played varsity on the women’s golf team, and ran and served as both the freshman and the sophomore class treasurer. Freshmen year I pledged Kappa Alpha Theta sorority where I served as Alumni Relations officer one year and Vice-President of Administration another year. One of the most meaningful elections I won at KU was Outstanding Resident of Corbin Residence Hall my freshman year. I entered the University Of Kansas School Of Medicine in 1980; during my fourth year of medical school I married fellow classmate René Bollier. The two of us moved to Houston, Texas, for our residencies: mine in Anesthesiology and Rene’s in Family Medicine. Both of us chose medicine for our careers because of our strong desire to do good for people and make a difference.
In 1987 we returned to Overland Park; I joined my father in anesthesia practice at Surgicenter of Kansas City and René joined a private family practice group. Our first child, Anne-Marie, was born followed by our son, Robert Laurent (Bobby) in 1989. I continued practicing anesthesia at the Surgicenter for twelve years. We moved from Overland Park to Mission Hills in September of 1991. During the twelve-plus years that I was working and raising my children, I served a three-year term as Elder at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church, followed by a stint as chairman of the newly formed long-range planning committee. During this time I also served as President of the Missouri Society of Anesthesiologists and as an American Society of Anesthesiology Delegate. I served 3 years on the Shawnee Mission Education Foundation during which I co-chaired the Grant committee. I also began teaching comprehensive sex education in the Presbyterian Church, and have continued in that endeavor for the past twenty years.
As our children grew and life got busier, René and I agreed that one of us needed to stop practicing medicine to be home with the kids. I retired from active practice at the end of 1999 and in addition to spending significant time with our kids, I had the opportunity to find additional time-intensive opportunities to volunteer and make a difference in the world. I spent three hours a week reading with second-graders at Rushton Elementary School in Roeland Park. I continued tutoring one student who had significant learning disabilities and who was also living in poverty. I have maintained my relationship with him for the past eleven years, and serve as an advocate for him as well as for his mother, a former special education student herself. What I have learned by entering the lives of the working poor is how essential it is to be well educated. Additionally, we have a dire need for a stable economy that offers jobs, thus allowing citizens the dignity of working and providing for their own families and removing their need for social services.
I served on the board of Midwest Christian Counseling Center, an organization that extends care to those who need professional, supportive counseling but who may not be able to afford the payments. I served in numerous capacities at Pembroke Hill School as a volunteer. Our family also chose to be an American Field Service host family in 2007/2008 for a young woman from Bangkok, Thailand. Seeking to understand the customs and culture of a person from another country definitely enhanced and stretched our family as we shared our own home and culture.
In 2001 I was asked by the Center for Practical Bioethics to chair a steering committee directed toward improving pediatric palliative care in Kansas City. That three year commitment evolved into a part-time volunteer job at the Center, where most of my time has been spent working on Caring Conversations for Young Adults©, an advance directive written for 16 to 25 year-olds. This past year I was asked to teach (as a volunteer) two courses in the Bioethics Masters Program at Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences, which has been both a challenging and richly rewarding experience. The Center will be honoring me with their Vision to Action award at their annual dinner this April. I have served for the past six years as a panel speaker with The Wrong of Passage, part of the Johnson County STOP Underage Drinking Coalition. I have been serving as an Elder/Trustee at Village Presbyterian Church, a Respite Caregiver for a man with blindness and dementia, a Middle School Sunday School teacher, member of the hand bell choir, and taught classes at Village University where I have also been a student in a regular Friday class entitled “Especially for Women”.
I currently serve in the Kansas House of Representatives for the 25th District. My committee assignments include Education; Vision 2020; Veterans, Military, and Homeland Security; Aging and Long Term Care; Vice-Chair, Joint Committee on Home and Community Based Services Oversight; and Joint Committee on Health Policy Oversight.
In my spare time I spend time with my husband, play golf, read, and catch up with my kids who are away at college.
Contact information:
Barbara G. Bollier, MD
6910 Overhill Road
Mission Hills, Kansas 66208-2769
913-485-2121 (cell)
bbrbabrb@aol.com
