PSU Magazine Winter 1999

All in the family Y ou might expect four doctors from the same family to be like peas in a pod. The Yetto clan would change your mind. head and neck surgery at the VA Hospital. Daughter, Anne '80, conducts rheumatology clinics for the Multnomah County Health Department. Still, the similarities are there: John, Tom, and Anne Yetto entered Oregon Health Sciences University one year after another for three consecutive years-each armed with a degree in biology from Portland State. The story begins in 1974. John, 18, had one thing on his mind: becoming Dr. Anne Vetto '80 and her brother, Dr. John Vetto '78 (pictured here), are part of a PSU family tradition. They and their brother, Tom '79, graduated from the premed program and earned M.D.s from OHSU. The Vetto family also includes three other PSU alumni. Dad, R. Mark Yetto, is emeritus director of surgery for OHSU. O ldest son, Tom '79, is a emergency room physician at Maricopa County Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona-after spending three years practicing medi– cine on an Arizona Indian reservation . Second son, John '78, is associate ·professor of surgery at OHSU, chief of surgical oncology at the Veterans Administration Hospital and chief of 14 PSU MAGAZINE WINTER 1999 a doctor. "I was very goal-oriented about getting into medical school," he says, sounding every bit as resolute 24 years later. "I was not in college fo r any other reason . I knew what I was aiming for at all times. I just knew I wanted to be a doctor." John investigated several premed programs and Portland State was the clear standout. "Portland State had a huge premed department," he recalls, "and routinely put about a quarter of their graduates at OHSU ." OHSU was the holy grail, and as one of the top medical schools in the nation, had a well-deserved reputation as a tough school to get into. John Yetto knew that if you could qualify for OHSU , you could qualify for just about anywhere. "It seemed to me that Portland State's premed program was very well organized. Almost as if they had a pipeline to OHSU, and I wanted to be in that pipeline." John quickly made use of PSU's premed advising program, initiating quarterly meetings with the advisory program coordinator, the late Dawn Dressler. "Dawn," says John, "gave me a lot of practical advice." A year later it was John's tum to be handing out advice. This time to Tom, his older brother. Tom had just completed a bachelor's degree in English from O regon State University, when he realized that medicine was singing a siren's song. "We're a medical family," explains Tom from his home in Phoenix, Arizona. "One of the assumptions was you'd at least look into it." Heeding John's endorsement of PSU 's premed program, Tom enrolled a year behind his younger brother. A year later, sister Anne joined them. "I knew from the time I was a junior in high school that I wanted to be a doctor," says Anne. "I knew John and Tom thought Portland State was a good program-very tough with excel– lent teachers. I was very focused on getting into med ical school so I could become a doctor. I wan ted a premed program that would teach me what I needed to do. If I had fo und Portland State was lacking, I would have switched schools." T hat's how the Vettos ended up a peculiarity at OHSU- three members of the same family entering in three successive years. Unfortu– nately, that "gee-whiz" was short-lived. The year after the Vettos made their mark, three other siblings entered OHSU-all in the same year. D ------ -- - - ---- - -------------------------------