Fast Facts: Dr. Bernard Feldman

Monday, July 8, 1996 | 6:15 a.m.

POSITIONS: Professor of pediatrics and vice chairman, University of Nevada School of Medicine, Las Vegas campus. President, Clark County Medical Society. Chairman of the Nevada State Board of Health. Former director, Sunrise Children's Hospital neonatal intensive care unit.

FIFTEEN YEARS OF HIGHER EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree, Drew University, Madison, N.J.; medical degree, State University of New York, Brooklyn; pediatric residency at U.S. Naval Hospital, Bethesda, Md.; master's degree in public health, University of California, Berkeley; fellowship in neonatal and perinatal medicine at University of California, San Diego.

FAMILY: Wife, Elaine. Children, Jonathan, assistant professor of pediatrics at UCLA; Donna, a lawyer; Jodi, a student at Georgetown University School of Law. Three grandchildren.

SPHERE OF INFLUENCE: He backed Jonathan when he chose pediatrics, and before Jodi went to law school, she was a lobbyist for the American Academy of Pediatrics. "What are we if we don't influence our children?" Feldman says.

DAD THE PEDIATRICIAN: The word around the Feldman household when his children were young was, "Don't ever tell Dad there is anything wrong. He will tell you it will go away."

RUNNING TO THE DOCTOR: "There is a marked overuse of physicians in this country," he says. "If going to the doctor is to ease your mind, then you go to make sure nothing is wrong. But don't tell the doctor to give your child penicillin. Doctors can't cure every symptom immediately."

HMOs: "There are many good things an HMO can do if it practices health maintenance -- it can do more as an organization than can an individual physician. On the other hand, if the bottom line is profit, the only way it can make money is by restricting care. The goal must not be that. HMOs need to spend their cash on health promotion."

OLD-TIMER: He's lived in Las Vegas for 22 years. "When we moved here, there were only 200,000 people. Not to say I don't like it now. Prosperity has made us all prosperous."