"Role model" is arguably the most used and abused term in the modern lexicon.

That's a shame because it devalues the term for when someone really is just that.

One such person who recently returned to Bermuda for a brief visit and lecture tour is Dr. Malcolm Brock, a surgeon and associate professor at arguably the finest hospital and medical school in the United States, if not the world ? Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.

Dr. Brock is an exemplar to all Bermudians. But at a time when there is a good deal of concern about the prospects of black males, Dr. Brock's story is all the more compelling.

To be sure, Dr. Brock comes from a family of achievers who have always placed a premium on the importance of education. He is the son of Mansfield (Jim) Brock, whose CV includes being principal of Sandys Secondary School, the first chief executive of the Bermuda College, Permanent Secretary of Education, Financial Secretary and a successful career as a senior executive at Butterfield Bank and the Gibbons Group. His mother is Beverley Brock, who dedicated her life to the front lines of education as a classroom teacher. One of his sisters is Arlene Brock, who recently added the title of Bermuda's first Ombudsman to her own impressive CV.

That's indisputable proof that a stable and nurturing family background is the best possible foundation for future success.

Dr. Brock is a product of public schools West Pembroke Primary School and Warwick Academy (before it went private). For those who look down their noses at the Bermuda College, he attended that institution before transferring his credits to Princeton University, one of the top Ivy League universities. After graduating from there with a double major, he went to Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship.

The list goes on. He graduated from Johns Hopkins Medical School, then spent eight years at the hospital itself, becoming chief resident in cardiothoracic surgery before his appointment to the faculty.

Now he is engaged in vital research on cancer and heart disease ? the western world's leading causes of death ? with a special focus on the lungs.

Why is this important? Because Dr. Brock is a living example of what is possible on this small Island, and his example should be a light to others. He defines the term role model.

To be sure, Dr. Brock is also highly intelligent, and it would be wrong to suggest that anyone can automatically follow in his footsteps. But other intelligent people have failed to achieve what he has in the first 41 years of his life. Hard work, enthusiasm, setting high standards, family support and a refusal to let others hold you back all help a person to succeed.

Bermuda has its problems, but it is impossible to look at Dr. Brock ? or the many other Bermudians who are achieving great things every day at home and abroad ? and say a Bermudian cannot reach the very top of his chosen career or profession.

There will be barriers, and no one should believe that any of this comes easily. But it is possible, regardless of race, gender or class.

Dr. Brock was born in 1964, at a time when Bermuda had yet to attain full universal adult suffrage and when schools were still segregated. Four decades later, he is a professor at one of the best medical schools in the world, engaged in cutting edge medical research.

He is an example to us all.