Laura Witherspoon, BA’81, MD’85, grew up near Chattanooga, Tennessee, as the oldest of six children. She was admitted to Vanderbilt University for her undergraduate studies in 1977, and like many college students of that era, did not receive financial aid. However, her parents, John and Norma Witherspoon, recognized something special about Vanderbilt and agreed to support her studies in molecular biology.
“Education was extremely important to our parents, and their expectation was that all of us would go to college,” she said.
Laura’s path to medicine began unexpectedly when her biological sciences professor, the late John “Jack” Venable Jr., PhD, suggested it, marking a pivotal moment in her life.
“If I hadn’t been raised by the parents I had, I don’t think I would have gone to Vanderbilt. Similarly, if I hadn’t gone to Vanderbilt for my undergraduate degree, I don’t think I would have attended medical school.”
Laura joined the U.S. Air Force to fund her medical education at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, where she was 1 of only 18 women in her class of 104. Her memories from that time include watching “All My Children” at lunch with her classmates and helping organize the Cadaver Ball — a tradition that began with fourth-year students throwing a celebration for first years after they completed gross anatomy lab and now includes the entire medical student body.
Her academic experiences, particularly anatomy class with Jack Davies, MD, influenced her path to surgery. Jeanette Norden, PhD, professor emerita of Cell and Developmental Biology also had a profound influence on Laura as “a role model for the women in our class and a force to be reckoned with.”
After completing general surgery training in Fresno, California, where she met her husband, David Head, Laura fulfilled her Air Force commitment at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The couple returned to Chattanooga in 1994 to establish their practices — David in cardiac surgery and Laura in general surgery. Laura later shifted to specialize in breast cancer surgery and continued in that area until her retirement in 2022.
She and David have both served as teaching faculty for the University of Tennessee residency program in Chattanooga.
Laura has two children and four stepchildren. Her son, Scott Head, BA’15, studied psychology and film studies at Vanderbilt and her step-grandson Ben Damir graduated from Vanderbilt in 2023.
Now serving as a chair for her 40th Medical School Reunion this fall, Laura reflects on her Vanderbilt experience as a precious gift from her parents. This inspired her and David to establish the John and Norma Witherspoon Scholarship at the School of Medicine, contributing to a key priority of the university’s Dare to Grow fundraising campaign: increasing access and crucial scholarship support for Vanderbilt students.
Laura hopes to make a world-class education available to more students, recognizing that “having the degree and connections Vanderbilt offers puts you in an arena that isn’t available to everyone.”