Meet your MEC: Jennifer Williams, MD

‘Every day I continue to be humbled and awed by our exceptionally hardworking and dedicated providers’

In this series, we’ll meet members of the Medical Executive Committees (MECs) at Salem and West Valley hospitals so you can get to know the people behind these leadership roles. Next up, Salem Hospital Multidisciplinary Peer review Committee (MRPC) Chair and West Valley Hospital Interim MPRC Chair Jennifer Williams, MD. Dr. Williams specializes in anesthesiology.

Q: What does it mean to be MPRC Chair for Salem Hospital and Interim Chair for West Valley Hospital?

A: It has been a tremendous honor and privilege to serve both medical staffs as chair, overseeing the peer review processes. I have enormous respect and appreciation for our outstanding physicians and advanced practice clinicians. They are clearly devoted to providing skillful, compassionate and excellent medical care for our increasingly complex patient population, and I consider it a formidable responsibility to chair the MPRCs. I have learned so much on so many levels from this work, and every day I continue to be humbled and awed by our exceptionally hardworking and dedicated providers. I am proud to be a part of this amazing medical community.

Q: What made you want to specialize in anesthesiology?

A: My mother was anesthesiologist, which certainly prompted me to consider the field for myself. But during medical school, it was the sense of kinship with the people I met in anesthesia, the thrilling excitement and absorbing physical activity of working in an operating room. Also, the variety of the work, which required knowledge of many medical and surgical specialties. All of this ultimately drew me to anesthesiology more than any other specialty. I just really like what we get to think about, what we get to do and who we get to spend time with!

Q: You mention you have a special interest in pediatric anesthesiology. Why is that?

A: I started medical school wanting to become a pediatrician. I have always enjoyed infants and children and believe it is an almost magical and even sacred privilege to take care of our smallest, most vulnerable and often fearful patients who have so much life still ahead of them. That this requires meticulous and delicate attention to detail really appealed to me. Ultimately, of course, I went into anesthesiology, but hoping to merge both interests, I did a pediatric anesthesiology fellowship and later taught pediatric anesthesia to medical students and residents for several years in practice as Associate Director of Pediatric Anesthesia at an academic medical center. I was always particularly struck by the gravity of the singular moment just before surgery when parents must part with their child and entrust me with their most precious thing on earth — when they’ve only just met me! It’s an overwhelming moment.

Q: Why are you a doctor?

A: I have wanted to be a doctor for as long as I can remember. Both of my parents were doctors and loved their work. Their enthusiasm for medicine was unquestionably a driving force for my own entry into the profession. I have found medicine to be intellectually fascinating and engaging, endlessly challenging, fulfilling and rewarding in so many ways. I’m proud to be part of this noble tradition that allows us to help other people in such extraordinarily meaningful and personal ways.

Q: What do you want most for your patients?

A: I want my patients to be safe and comfortable throughout their peri-operative/peri-procedural experiences and to have the best possible outcomes. Surgery can be daunting, frightening, intimidating and very stressful for patients. I strive to earn their trust and confidence in me, the entire health care team and the peri-operative process. I hope to shepherd my patients through this ordeal with minimal anxiety, pain, distress and, of course, without complications.

Q: What’s a fact about you we’d never guess?

A: I did a lot of theatre in high school and college — which is how I got to know Stephen Colbert, who went to my high school. We were both in “Annie Get Your Gun” — he was the lead and I was supporting cast. I also went to college with Peter Sagal, host of NPR’s “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!”, who directed me in a student production of “What the Butler Saw.” My remote claims to distant fame!

Q: What’s on your nightstand right now?

A: I do love reading. Currently, I’m reading “Of Human Bondage” by Somerset Maugham with “Hamnet” by Maggie O’Farrell, “Babel” by R. F. Kuang, “Cutting for Stone” by Abraham Verghese and my husband’s latest book on deck. And there is also a big pile of New Yorkers I’m trying to catch up on.

Q: Your husband is an author?

A: Yes, Norman Williams! He’s a law professor at Willamette University and writes about the legal history of American election law.

Q: Tell us about your running!

A: I’ve been running for 45 years. I enjoy leisurely, recreational running, usually by myself while listening to music or NPR. I do not run competitively and have never run in races. Besides the physical health benefits, I find that running provides a calming and centering mental health boost. It’s a great stress reliever!

Q: Where are your favorite places to run?

A: I most enjoy running along bodies of water, especially the Charles River, Central Park Reservoir, Lake Michigan and on the beaches along the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Locally, I just love to run in my neighborhood. It’s a bit hilly, which can be a challenge, but that means the views are amazing. To the south, I can see the Willamette Valley with the river in the foreground and the mountains in the distance. Taking a northeastern loop on a clear day, I can see Mounts Jefferson, Hood, Adams, sometimes St Helens and occasionally even Mount Rainier and the Three Sisters.

Q: Favorite restaurant in the Willamette Valley?

A: Rosmarino Osteria Italiana in Newberg. Fabulous! It’s an authentic Northern Italian dining experience.  My husband and I go for the five-course prix fixe dinner and wine pairing and are always delighted with whatever is served. We particularly enjoy the lively performance by the genius chef Dario, who introduces each delectable course with loud Italian gusto and joyful, ebullient enthusiasm for his beloved Italy, its food and wine, and his lovely wife, Sheena.