Deena Obrokta, D.O., a WVSOM alumna and longtime donor to the school, was never afraid to speak her mind. As a nontraditional student in WVSOM’s Class of 1994, one particular incident in her gross anatomy lab left her classmates in shock.
“Dr. [James] Nemitz was an anatomy professor and my advisor,” Obrokta said. “I had the highest grade in the class in anatomy, but I somehow missed out on the brachial plexus, the network of nerves that go down your arm. I said, ‘This isn’t making sense,’ and Dr. Nemitz said, ‘Well, it’s obvious you didn’t understand it.’ I looked at him and said, in front of the class, ‘It’s obvious you didn’t explain it correctly.’ Everybody’s mouths dropped open. I couldn’t believe I said it, but I did.”
That fearlessness has served Obrokta well in her career as a pediatrician for the past 25 years, the last seven of which have been at Liberty Pediatrics, a division of Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Newport News, Va. At times, being a physician requires discussing things that aren’t easy to talk about — or that challenge conventional wisdom.
“I think the reason my patients like me is that I tell them, ‘This is the way it is and this is what you have to do.’ For example, a few years ago, everything was about reflux, and pediatricians in my area were prescribing babies Zantac, which doesn’t make sense medically because spitting up is a mechanical problem. I had a mom tell me that her friend’s baby was on medication, and I said, ‘Listen. Spitting up is not a medical problem, it’s a laundry problem.’ Zantac is now off the market, so thank goodness I said what I did, because it was the truth,” Obrokta said.
Obrokta was born and raised in northwestern Pennsylvania, and spent 20 years as a dental hygienist before entering medical school. While attending West Virginia’s West Liberty State College to upgrade her associate degree in dental hygiene to a bachelor’s degree, a WVSOM recruiter asked her if she’d considered medical school. She hadn’t, but when her former husband told her she couldn’t do it, she knew WVSOM would be part of her future.
“It gave me additional initiative to do it,” she said. “I also knew that as a nontraditional student, I wouldn’t have the burnout a lot of students have after going through all the competition to get into medical school. And it was great. I was totally fascinated with learning. I’d leave class and I couldn’t wait to get back the next morning. Sometimes I felt stressed because both my sons were in college and one was playing football, so I was traveling on weekends. But it all worked out.”
When Obrokta earned her degree from WVSOM, it was her son T.J. Obrokta, who had graduated from the West Virginia University College of Law just two weeks prior, who served as his mother’s hooder. The family would eventually become generous donors to WVSOM.
A tragedy inspired Deena Obrokta to establish the school’s Olivia Claire Obrokta Pediatric Award, which recognizes a student who is committed to serving in a pediatric specialty. Her granddaughter, who was born prematurely, passed away at the age of five days.
“Olivia was born at 23 weeks, which was right on the edge of viability,” Obrokta said. “It was heart-wrenching. I decided to establish the scholarship to help remind people about prematurity. I’m pleased that I was able to do it, and I know the recipients have been grateful.”
T.J. Obrokta is president and CEO of the Columbus, Ohio- based Encova Insurance, formerly BrickStreet Insurance, whose charitable arm created an endowment at WVSOM in 2016 that funds the largest annual scholarship awards through the school’s WVSOM Foundation. Since the 2017- 18 academic year, the endowment has awarded $393,000 to 52 students. Combined with an initial donation from the BrickStreet Foundation and interest earned from that donation, the company has enabled the WVSOM Foundation to provide $993,000 to 73 students.
Deena Obrokta said the lessons she imparted to her children about philanthropy ring true to a physician who has spent a quarter-century caring for people in what can be the most vulnerable period of life. She remains interested in giving back to the school that gave her the training needed for a successful career in pediatrics.
“During my rotations, I ran circles around students from other schools because of the education I received at WVSOM and the willingness of the professors to work with us,” she said. “It’s important for me to give back because of what the school gave to me, which was the ability to take care of babies and children for 25 years.”