Press Release

Dr. Willey Pursue Medical Dreams

 Dr. Shawna Willey knew she wanted to be a physician when she was a senior in high school at Whiting.

She was influenced by her job at Burgess Health Center and was further inspired by the encouragement of long-time, surgeon Dr. John Garred, Sr.

“He really took me under his wing and mentored me,” says Willey. “He initially allowed me to observe in surgery and then I became an operating room tech as a high school job.”

Her grandmother also played a pivotal role in her career choice.

“My grandmother is the first person who really turned on the light blub that I, as a female growing up in rural Iowa could go into medicine,” Willey says. “She was very progressive. She was born in the early 1900s, went to college, taught school and was respected in the community. She saw me graduate from medical school and could have been a surgeon if raised in a different era.”

That same grandmother, Helen Willey, also thought it would be nice for Shawna to meet a “nice young man”, Leo Einck,, whose sister was marrying Shawna’s cousin many years ago. The two found they had both been in the zoology department at Iowa State University but never met. Today the couple has three children.

What drew her to focus on breast cancer?

“In the 1990s there was an explosion in research and technology,” Willey says. “We were going from the standard mastectomies to breast-conserving surgery and new technology and procedures." The advances included image-guided needle biopsies and sentinel node mapping.

There are cosmetic advances, too. “Now I work with plastic surgeons that are world renowned," says Willey. "I worked with one just today. They use a microvascular connection of blood vessels in breast surgery.”

This August Willey decided to fulfill another life long dream – mission work. She joined a team of 40 to work in Nigeria for two weeks at a teaching hospital. Nigeria has an educated population, but there is corruption, Willey adds. The majority of people are poor with little access to healthcare.

“I have been overseas but never anything quite like this. This was much more third world.

Women in Nigeria don’t have the advantage of screenings, and face taboos. There is some shame associated with breast cancer and they don’t see the hope.

“It was an opportunity that came along and it was something I always wanted to do.”

She also enjoys her travels back to the Midwest.

“It’s an honor to come back to your hometown. I have such strong ties there. I think Monona County has been very fortunate to have the quality physicians it has. Burgess is a leader for rural medicine. My dad has benefited from being a patient there and using its clinics. He recently finished cardiac rehab at Burgess after a stent procedure.”

Today Willey’s father, Vincent Willey, 80, still helps plant and harvest crops. He has a strong work ethic – the same work ethic that has propelled Willey to earn a medical degree from the University of Iowa, pursue surgery, help the poor in Africa and work with world-renowned surgeons to give hope to women facing possible disfigurement and a potentially

life-ending disease.

Dr. Willey will present "Wear Pink: The Latest on Breast Cancer" Sept. 10 at the Onawa Community Center at 7:30 p.m. The free program starts with a 6:30 p.m. dessert reception and is open to men and women.