Micaela Weaver ’09’s path to excelling as a surgeon wasn’t always a straight line
Before she was named to the Association of Women Surgeons’ 40 Under 40 Outstanding Women Surgeons list in 2022, Micaela Weaver ’09 took what she describes as a circuitous path to medical school and becoming a surgeon. Not only did she take a semester off to drive a forklift, but she also worked in accounts payable and receivable for a year between college and medical school.
She says those experiences make her a better doctor because she can relate to her patients’ life experiences.
“I’ve lived paycheck to paycheck,” she says. “I’ve had to get health insurance, and I’ve worked in different types of jobs. I wasn’t just a student my whole life.”
After two years at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, Weaver, a native of Harrisonburg, Va., came home for a semester and considered what she really wanted to do with her life. After spending the fall working in shipping and receiving (including driving the aforementioned forklift), she enrolled at Bridgewater College in January 2005 as a biology major. She wasn’t satisfied with just learning about biology and anatomy in a classroom setting, and a friend suggested she look into athletic training as well.
With the double major, athletic training gave Weaver the opportunity to practice patient care and health care in a hands-on setting: “Athletic training helped me remember why I wanted to be a doctor in the first place.” She still wanted more ownership over patient diagnosis and treatment decisions than athletic training could provide, so once again she focused on her dream of medical school. A Flory Honors student, Weaver credits faculty mentors such as Professors of Biology Dr. Gavin Lawson and Dr. Robyn Puffenbarger with inspiring her to succeed and describes her athletic training professor Dr. Barbara Long, now Dean of the Rev. Wilfred E. and Dr. Joyce A. Nolen School of Business and Professional Studies, as “just phenomenal, a powerhouse of a woman and exceptional role model.”
Long says of Weaver: “Micaela was an engaged and intelligent student who worked hard to make connections between her classes and skills that would make her a wonderful physician. She would talk with me extensively about how her knowledge could be used to help patients, as an athletic trainer and then as a surgeon.”
After graduating from Bridgewater in 2009 and spending a year working in accounts payable and receivable, Weaver began medical school at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM). She was drawn to osteopathic medicine’s focus on treating the whole person and discovered her passion for surgery during her medical school rotation. She says the first time she walked into an operating room, she felt “this was where I belonged.”
“Surgery is not for the faint of heart,” she says, but she couldn’t see herself doing anything else.
After earning her doctor of osteopathic medicine (D.O.) in 2014 from WVSOM, she began her five-year general surgery residency at Flushing Hospital Medical Center in Queens, N.Y., followed by a one-year fellowship in breast surgical oncology at Women & Infants Hospital in Providence, R.I., where she is currently employed as a board-certified general surgeon and fellowship-trained breast surgical oncologist.
Passionate about her specialty, Weaver describes it as an honor and privilege to care for her patients. “I get to make connections with my patients that are long-term, and I get to know them really well. I just find that so rewarding, to have those conversations, to have people let me into their lives and put their trust in me.”
The field of breast cancer research and surgery is constantly evolving, and Weaver takes pride in putting into practice techniques that will hide surgical scars and lead to long-term patient well-being and happiness with their bodies.
Weaver is also an assistant professor and clinician educator in the departments of surgery and OB-GYN at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, with which her hospital is affiliated. She wants to encourage medical students to think critically and to inspire more women in surgery.
“The experiences we have as trainees really shape who we are as future physicians,” she says. Her advice to aspiring medical students is to not give up and to nurture your passions. She says medical schools are looking for well-rounded students with a variety of interests.
“My time at Bridgewater prepared me for medical school by not only giving me a strong foundation in anatomy, physiology and clinical examination skills, but also by teaching me about building a rapport with patients and how to explain complicated things in a way that anyone can understand. I also learned the importance of teamwork and collaboration to achieve the best outcome, which is absolutely critical in my current field of breast cancer care.”
She credits her mentors and a lot of hard work with putting her on her current career path.
“Bridgewater College gave me all the tools I needed to succeed in medical school, surgical residency, fellowship and beyond,” she says.
– Olivia Shifflett
Photo courtesy of Care New England Health System
