A compassionate leader unties the knots of health care
As a health-care executive, alumna KMarie King, MD ’98, follows a set of principles: ‘Be kind, have integrity and the patient comes first.’
More than 25 years ago, KMarie King, MD ’98, observed Steven Strasberg, MD, now professor emeritus of surgery at WashU Medicine, carefully lay out sutures during a bile duct reconstruction surgery. A third-year medical student at the time, King was mesmerized.
“I knew in that moment that I wanted to work on the liver and the pancreas, just like he did,” King says. “Here I was, part of a team helping a patient with a complex problem in this complex structure. It just spoke to me.”
King followed that instinct. After graduating from WashU Medicine and completing multiple fellowships, she joined the faculty at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine as a hepatobiliary and pancreas surgeon. There, she conducted NIH-funded research, maintained a surgical practice and taught medical students and residents. She also continued her own education, earning a master’s degree in biomedical sciences. Then came another moment of inspiration.