Three sisters pursue careers in health services and research by Brenda McDonald Pictured to the left: (L to R) May, Jean and Anne). Photo Courtesy of May Caprio-Prevette In an era when women were trying to find their voice, retired Montana State University professor Joseph Caprio and his wife Marilyn (Frangos) were raising a trio. The Caprio sisters, Anne Caprio Shovic, '74 HmEc, Jean Caprio Triscott, '75 Micro, and May Caprio-Prevette, '81 Psy, grew up to become accomplished health professionals. The girls grew up across the street from MSU where their father was a professor in the plant and soils department and the state climatologist. "My father was heavily into research," said Caprio-Prevette. "We learned that research is a natural outcome of all work. It's a part of daily life." May, who has done work in brain injury research and memory enhancement in older adults, is currently a Ph.D. staff psychologist for the Calgary Police Service, in Alberta, Canada. She credits not only her family, but the entire campus environment with fueling her interests. "I started at MSU because of convenience, and it was a part of who I was," she said. "But MSU was also a place where you had room to think and explore and be encouraged." In fact she spent so much time exploring her interests that she changed majors many times. According to sister Anne, "it got to be a family joke, she changed majors every semester." As the youngest, Caprio-Prevette idealized her older sisters. "I saw them as motivators. I thought, 'if they can do it, I can do it.'" "My parents nurtured the spirit to be who we are today," she said. As a chubby child, Shovic said she refused to take other people's word about why she looked the way she did and wanted to find out for herself. This fueled her interest in nutrition and her eventual doctorate in the subject. She directs the only dietetics program in Hawaii at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. Besides teaching, she is also doing nutritional research including analyzing the effectiveness of poi, a starchy staple of the Hawaiian diet. Her research scope has broadened. She is currently in Seville, Spain, as the University of Hawaii resident director for the Study Abroad program. "In Spain, less than 20 percent of the population is overweight, compared to over 60 percent in the United States," she said. For sister Jean it was eye opening world travel that led her to a career in medicine. "Growing up we traveled a lot," she said. "By the time I was 11 or 12 we had traveled the world." That included a year and a half in Tehran, Iran. "Dad was working for the World Health Organization," she said. "There I saw a need for helping people." She went to MSU where she majored in microbiology with an interest in infection and diseases. She went on to the University of Alberta in Canada where she went to medical school. She is currently the director of the Division of Care of the Elderly, a multidisciplinary program which she has developed over the last 20 years. The program, trains physicians to treat older people through a team approach. Triscott has always wanted to do research in an applied setting. "I really wanted to work with people, to educate them and to have a bigger impact," she said. Her research is currently being applied in a program she developed called "Driveable," a validated evidence-based computerized program which predicts the safety of older drivers. "My parents are an incredible inspiration," Caprio-Prevette said.