Catch up with Dr. Wendy Grant (resident 1994 - 2000)
“What are you thinking, your life will be over.” This is a quote from when I told my friends and fellow Chiefs that I was going to move to Omaha to do a Fellowship in Abdominal Transplant Surgery at the University of Nebraska. Well … here I am 22 years later … Professor of Surgery and Associate Dean of Admissions and Student Affairs – still in Nebraska. Thanks Dirk and Bud.
I was blessed to have been a University of Utah resident from 1994-2000. Dr. Barton told me that he wanted me ranked high because I had been a bus driver in college. I have no idea how Dr. McGreevy accepted me because I showed up for the social and interview day with a beet-red face after a day of skiing with no sunscreen. I think Steven Fass even had a good day of skiing that interview week despite having to “ski with a chick”. We had met on the bus going to Grady in Atlanta and realized that we were interviewing the same day in Utah. Amazing how one-off conversations shape your life. I still believe our class was one to be reckoned with and my co-residents are still my brothers and sister.
My husband Beau and our two fabulous children – Amelia and Charlie – have made me such a better person and surgeon. Omaha has been and remains an easy, exciting and relatively uncomplicated place to raise our family and practice as a surgeon. At UNMC, I have been able to continue to be an active surgeon while having leadership in the College of Medicine and bring a surgeon’s perspective to the leadership team.
The expectations for fairness and excellence that were instilled upon us were hard, but made us better. One day, Dr. Saffle made us start rounds over in the Burn Unit (after five or six patients) because we were all just not right. But then a couple of months later, he let me make an incision on a patient.
I had a nickname as a Chief – the “Grant Inquisitor”. It bothered me then, but now I relish in the ability to constantly ask students and residents questions about how they make decisions. I think this helps them be better doctors because they have to think about what they are doing.
I love being a transplant surgeon and can’t believe that I still get to do this. It is hard. Being a surgeon is hard. But I am a part of an incredible team and have support. Just as I did when I was a resident. I am lucky that I don’t know anything different.
Our kids are in high school which is hard to swallow. They are incredible people, musicians, and know how to work hard. They get so much of this from Beau, without whom I would not be where I am. We have travelled and had great adventures as a family. Outside of work I love watching our kids activities, puzzles, our dog and a little quilting.
I have been able to see so many Utah people over the years. It is a small world and there are so many connections that make for stories. As I talk with students about what they want to do and where they want to go for residency, I always tell them that they should look for a place that will be their family. Maybe I say this because my surgery family started in Utah.