An orthopedic surgeon and U.S. Army veteran’s service to his country and patients

Meet Dr. Eric Verwiebe, an orthopedic surgeon at Aurora Medical Center – Summit and United States Army veteran.

Dr. Verwiebe enlisted as a combat medic in the Army in 1991 after his 17 birthday. Following his first active tour duty in 1994, he joined the Wisconsin Army National Guard while earning his bachelor’s degree. Dr. Verwiebe took an active-duty commission in 2001 and began medical school in Bethesda, Maryland.

“My medical school class was unique in that more than 50% of the students were prior service military just like me, from all branches of service,” says Dr. Verwiebe. During his first year of medical school, the events of 9/11 changed many things and some of his classmates left school to return to the military and serve their country in that way.

He began his clinical rotations in 2003 and cared for injured service members at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as part of the orthopedic surgery team. During Dr. Verwiebe’s time at the medical center, he was amazed by the care they provided to injured service members. “I knew that this was how I wanted to serve both our country and our injured service members as an orthopedic surgeon.”

During Dr. Verwiebe’s 31 years of military service, he served four combat deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa, and served as the Chief of Orthopedic Trauma at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Tripler Army Medical Center and Brooke Army Medical Center. He has lived across the country, treated patients around the world and is excited to be back home serving patients.

Dr. Verwiebe says the most rewarding part of being an orthopedic surgeon is developing relationships with patients, seeing them progress through their injuries and regaining their function and independence.

“Veterans Day is a very special time to me and a moment to pause and think of all the sacrifices made by so many who have served their country,” shares Dr. Verwiebe. “This includes the families of all those service members who have moved countless times, left their schools and their friends over and over, spouses who have restarted their careers multiple times, and all of the big events missed by oversea assignments or deployments. I met my first son a month after he was born. My wife went through her entire first pregnancy on her own. My experience here is not unique either. There are countless others who have endured greater hardships and sacrificed more in service to our country. I salute them all.”

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