From the Andes to the operating room

June 27, 2025 - By Kathryn Sill
 

Chief resident, Silvia Vaca, MD, was born in Bogotá, Colombia, surrounded by the chilly and foggy Andes Mountains.

Vaca lived there until the age of six, when her dad accepted an engineering position, relocating the family to the U.S. This move, along with other formative life experiences, set Vaca on her path toward a career in neurosurgery.

One of those formative lessons began in the swimming pool. Vaca grew up swimming competitively with a coach that adopted a “tough love mentality.”

“He fundamentally believed that his goal was not to teach us physical strength, but mental fortitude and so that's how he approached our training,” Vaca said. “If you gave up during a swim lesson, the next day he would ask you to write an essay on tenacity. I wrote two of those. It was great preparation for the time to come.”

Vaca said she quickly learned she had a talent at the longer swim events, finding endurance was her strong suit which proved incredibly valuable outside the pool.

Her father applied that same practice of tenacity to her education, advising her “the world can take everything you own, but no one can take away your education.”

Her father’s advice encouraged Vaca to value education at a young age, deciding to further her education at Georgia Tech for her undergraduate studies, majoring in biomedical engineering with a minor in Chinese.

Through scholarships, Vaca was able to get her undergraduate education fully funded, including two semesters abroad in France and China. Halfway through her biomedical studies she decided she wanted to be closer to patient care and shifted her focus to becoming a surgeon.

Her biochemistry professor encouraged her to apply for Stanford’s medical school, and although initially hesitant Vaca took a chance.

What stood out to me about Stanford when I interviewed for medical school, was that they wanted to support my passions – whatever they may be. For my MD training I was able to have a scholarly concentration in bioengineering and global health.

“What stood out to me about Stanford when I interviewed for medical school, was that they wanted to support my passions – whatever they may be,” Vaca said. “For my MD training I was able to have a scholarly concentration in bioengineering and global health.”

In her first two years of medical school, she spent a lot of time in the design school and the business school through a partnership called Design for Extreme Affordability. This program aimed at pairing up multidisciplinary teams with non-profit organizations to try to solve a problem in a low resource setting. Vaca’s project focused on training clinicians in Tanzania on treating clubfoot.

Wanting to merge her global health interests with a career in neurosurgery, Vaca spent six months in Uganda researching long-term neurosurgical outcomes under the mentorship of Gerald Grant, MD, former Stanford pediatric neurosurgery division chief. Inspired by his mentorship, along with that of Gordon Li, MD, professor of neurosurgery, she decided to continue at Stanford for her neurosurgery residency.

During her residency, Vaca continued to integrate her global health interests in neurosurgery through a number of incredible opportunities: learning from neurotrauma and critical care experts in Colombia, conducting neurotrauma work in Bolivia, working to expand cerebrovascular neurosurgery in Paraguay, and assisting in the first spine surgery in Sierra Leone.

Everyone in the hospital taught me to adopt a mindset of always wanting the best for the patient. We all have a role to play. Knowing that patients trust us with their lives is incredibly humbling.

Vaca’s residency training also gave her exposure to clinical care during a pandemic, providing a new lens through which she cared for neurosurgical patients. Care of these patients outside the operating room (OR) was coupled with strengthening her surgical techniques in the OR. One of her favorite memories was getting to clip her first aneurysm with Marco Lee, MD, PhD, clinical professor of neurosurgery.

“In my residency, I’ve been so grateful to learn from everyone—my long-term mentors, attendings, co-residents, nurses, the surgical team, and the custodians,” Vaca said. “Everyone in the hospital taught me to adopt a mindset of always wanting the best for the patient. We all have a role to play. Knowing that patients trust us with their lives is incredibly humbling.”

Looking ahead, Vaca plans to continue her education at Stanford after residency, where she will complete an endovascular fellowship. She intends to carry forward the values that have guided her throughout her life: endurance, humility, and an others-first mentality.