Dr. Margaret Bertrand—Modern-day Nancy Drew

As a child, Margaret aspired to be like the quintessential sleuth. Now, detecting breast cancer as medical director for Solis Women’s Health of North Carolina, she considers her goal met. The radiologist has been a pioneer for women’s health in this area, building the first comprehensive breast-health center in Guilford County in 1983 and becoming one of the first to use breast-specific gamma imaging, which costs less and can reveal more than traditional mammograms. She channeled Nancy Drew again 11 years ago, when she diagnosed her own breast cancer. Now healthy, she’s even more emphatic about encouraging women to do monthly breast self-exams and get annual mammograms after age 40. “I’m all about prevention,” Margaret says. “It would be great if there was a drug to cure breast cancer, too, but I think we’re going to find ways to prevent breast cancer before we find that cure.”