Giving in Action: The Vrtiska ‘Joy in Service’ Scholarship
For Terri Vrtiska, MD’87, the drive to help others was part of her life long before she enrolled in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
Her parents — a teacher and a farmer by trade — were pillars of the small, 4-by-7-block community of Table Rock, Nebraska, where she grew up. Between the two of them, they served a combined 70 years in elected public offices, including the school board, as county commissioner and as a Nebraska state senator among many other roles. “They were the first people anywhere to help anybody in need,” Vrtiska recalls. “They gave countless years of service, and they left that legacy with me and my siblings.”
Helping others has certainly been a refrain throughout Vrtiska’s own career — from early jobs as a lifeguard, waitress and newspaper carrier, to her 34 years at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where she studied as a surgical resident and, subsequently, became a diagnostic and interventional radiologist. Today, she shares her passion for volunteering and giving back with her husband, Bernie Swenson, who was instrumental in the couple’s decision to establish the “Vrtiska Joy in Service” scholarship at the School of Medicine in January 2024.
Named in honor of Vrtiska’s parents, the scholarship holds an awarding preference for medical students with demonstrated experience working in voluntary or charitable organizations. “To be able to support future physicians who have demonstrated a desire to help others from an early age, especially through voluntary service, just felt like the perfect fit to honor my parents,” Vrtiska says. “Knowing how expensive medical school is and also how much my own time at Vanderbilt impacted my career, we knew we wanted this scholarship fund to be part of our legacy.”
Vrtiska and Swenson were also drawn to the option Vanderbilt offered to start the fund during their lifetime, allowing them to witness its impact on students directly while also growing the fund further through a planned gift. “We talked through a number of different structures, but this one felt really meaningful,” Swenson says. “It was important to us to be able to witness firsthand how a deserving student will benefit.”
The scholarship is also a tribute to Vrtiska’s many fond memories of Vanderbilt, from her beloved anatomy professor, Dr. Jack Davies, whose meticulous drawings helped spark her interest in painting — a passion she pursues more avidly today, during her retirement — to the overall spirit of support that she remembers feeling on campus. As she puts it, it was an environment where everyone wanted her to succeed.
“I’m so glad we can support Vanderbilt in this way,” says Vrtiska of the gift, which also contributes to the university’s Dare to Grow fundraising campaign, a historic effort that is currently underway, and for which student access and support is a top priority. “I’ve had a lot of wonderful moments in my life, but when we received the official approval of the scholarship, it really made my heart sing.”
She hopes that their gift will inspire others to give back, in whatever way is most meaningful to them.
– by Lucie Alig