During her successful career in medicine, Eleanor “Connie” Mariano has racked up an impressive list of “firsts.”  Not only was she the first Filipino-American to become a Rear Admiral in the US Navy, she also was the first female director of the White House Medical Unit, as well as the first military woman to be appointed as the White House Physician.  Born in 1955 in the Philippines, Mariano moved to the United States with her family at the age of two.  She graduated cum laude from the University of California, San Diego, earning her undergraduate degree in biology.  After joining the US Navy in 1977, she earned her medical degree from the Uniformed Services University of Medicine in 1981.  She later reached the rank of Rear Admiral in the navy and from there rose to the position of White House physician, where she provided medical service for two sitting presidents, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.  In 2001, she retired from the navy and joined the Mayo Clinic of Scottsdale, Arizona.  Since then, she has founded the Center for Executive Medicine, a concierge medical service in North Scottsdale.