YOUNG ALUMNA OF THE YEAR AWARD
Dr. Holly Caretta-Weyer, H Sci ’09
San Francisco, Calif.
As Associate Residency Program Director in Emergency Medicine at Stanford University and a global leader in the field of competency-based medical education, Dr. Holly Caretta-Weyer is helping train the physicians of tomorrow. And she is doing so as a student herself.
It’s no surprise that Holly finds it extremely rewarding to train the physicians of tomorrow to ensure they’re ready to properly care for their patients. Affecting people’s lives in a positive way is just part of her make up. It is what attracted her to Marquette in the first place.
“Actually, it was partly for the opportunities to have a cadaver-based gross anatomy class as an undergraduate, and to study with professors like Drs. Mantsch, Cullinan, Choi and others,” she says. But, yes, it was also the liberal arts requirements in philosophy, history, anthropology, sociology etc., and the chance to grow into individuals who would be the difference.”
Holly is currently pursuing a PhD in medical education from Maastricht University in the Netherlands. She is studying how we educate physicians and “gaining an understanding of how summative assessment and selection decisions are made and their impact on a variety of stakeholders.”
As the principal investigator on over $1.5M in grants from various funding agencies, including the American Medical Association, her long-term goal is to change the way physicians progress through their training. “Ideally, physicians of the future will advance to the next step of medical school or residency based on their performance and their ability to meet defined outcomes, rather than arbitrary time-based metrics. This initiative is incredibly important to ensure that patients receive the best care possible,” she says.
Name someone (past or present) with whom you'd like to have dinner.
Dr. Anthony Fauci! I have so many questions about his approach to combining science and policy, the pandemic, career advice, working with people you don't agree with, his take on leadership, the future of medicine and public health … I would need a loooooong dinner.
What is one of your favorite Marquette memories?
There are too many! Two big ones stand out:
I met my now husband at the orientation square dance … while I was dancing with his best friend instead! We later got engaged senior year on MLK day in the snow in front of Joan of Arc Chapel — just yards from where we first met.
Freshman year in Straz Tower with the Honors Program crew. Hanging out on the 18th floor pink couch with my closest friends and playing ultimate spoons across the entire floor (including some gnarly injuries!) with people I will never forget. We were insane.
Leave a congratulatory message for Holly!