Portraits

Jill Helms

“When I was first contemplating a move to Stanford, my chairman and I had a discussion; I wanted to have permission to have my small dog in my office with me and lucky for me, Tom Krummel was a man of vision and foresight. Since then, Kiwi has been a constant presence in my office. At noontime she’ll announce its time for a walk and in doing so, both of us have developed a deep appreciation for our beautiful campus. She’s been the source of consolation to countless students; I’ve witnessed how the sadness of getting a C in organic chemistry can be dampened by the presence of a pup in your lap. And as anyone with a dog understands, there is something deeply comforting about the presence of a dog under ones’ desk.”

Jill Helms, Professor, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery

Jill lives with her husband Tom Sabel, MBA ’86, two Icelandic horses, and two border terriers in Portola Valley. They call their home Follow Your Bliss Farm, based on the words of philosopher Joseph Campbell: “If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of path that has been there all the while, waiting for you. And the life you ought to be living is the one you are living.” Says Jill, “That pretty much sums up my career, marriage, life. I feel enormously blessed. I’m originally from Minnesota, so you can imagine how much I love California winters. I’ve been at Stanford for 11 glorious years. It is the privilege of a lifetime to be a professor here.”

Photographed on the deck outside her office on February 3, 2016.