Dr. Melanie Liu always thought she would be a physician, but she didn’t expect to end up in what became her specialty. This 2003 Baton Rouge Magnet High School valedictorian and Pokemon fan is trying to train others who want to follow her footsteps.
When you were in high school, was being valedictorian something you pursued? If so, what study habits did you use to get the best grades possible?
Yes, being valedictorian was one of my goals. My study habits perhaps weren’t the best as I did (and still do) have a tendency to procrastinate. However, I was very organized and always kept a calendar of when tests, papers and other deadlines were coming up so that I could make a plan for how I was going to get all the work done in time.
How big an accomplishment did you feel it was to be valedictorian?
To this day, I am proud of having accomplished it. However, each step really only serves to get you to the next step. Because I did well in high school, I was able to get into a good college, which then allowed me to get into medical school, etc.
Did you get one or more college degrees? If so, please describe.
Yes, I went to college (degree: Bachelor of Arts) and then to medical school (degree: doctor of medicine)
Did you get the degree you originally planned to study, or did you change majors and/or colleges?
I went into college planning to be premed, and that is what I did. However, I ended up pursuing a double major (biology and French), which was great because it gave me an excuse to study abroad. I’d like to think that this extra major helped set me apart when applying to medical school.
What was your first job, and how has your career progressed to today?
After medical school, I did a medical residency in anesthesiology (four years) and then further subspecialty training in cardiac anesthesiology (one year). My first job as an attending physician was at Weill-Cornell Medical Center in New York City. In 2018, I moved to Seattle, Washington, with my husband so that he could pursue a job opportunity and have been practicing at the University of Washington Medical Center ever since.
Is your career where you expected or hoped it would be 20 years ago?
Yes and no. When I graduated from high school, I did think that I was going to become a doctor — and I did. However, I had always envisioned myself as the type of doctor I routinely saw, which is to say an internist or a pediatrician. I never gave a thought to the practice of anesthesiology until I did my surgical rotations, which included a short (two-week) rotation in anesthesiology. I found myself loving the operating room environment — and later on, loving the challenge of providing anesthetic care for very sick patients.
Today, my clinical time is spent taking care of patients undergoing heart and lung surgery and other heart-related procedures. I also have a role in training, educating and mentoring anesthesiology residents and cardiac anesthesiology fellows. I never imagined as a high school graduate that I would end up with such a job — mostly because I didn’t know that this existed.
What are your future career goals?
Good question. I’m still trying to figure that out. Along with my clinical role, I have an academic appointment as assistant professor. I am on the promotion track as a clinician-educator toward associate professor, so I suppose that is my current career goal. I hope that I can make a difference in the education of our future physician anesthesiologists, particularly as it pertains to my subspecialty practice of cardiac anesthesiology.
Describe your family.
I am married and now have a 3-year-old boy and 1-year-old girl. I also have a 4-year-old Pembroke Welsh corgi who is named after a Pokemon (I’ll let the Pokemon fans guess which one).
Interested in learning more about Louisiana’s 2003 valedictorians? Take a look at our introduction story here.
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