Dr. Pamela Graber '70
Medical director, WellCare, Tampa, Fla.
Major: History
A "history" with Bluffton.
Pamela’s dad went to Bluffton, and when the question of where to attend college came up, Pamela chose Bluffton as well. “Bluffton was vigorous academically…You couldn’t find anyone better than John Unruh in undergrad; he was such a great influence on me. Watching him teach was amazing; he would almost glow when he was lecturing.” Pamela also appreciated that Bluffton’s professors “put ethics into action,” noting that Unruh would check quotes for accuracy, “right down to where you put a comma,” rather than merely assuming they were correct. Bluffton, Pamela says, “provided a good baseline for academic integrity, research integrity, how I reported results,” all qualities that she uses today in her current job. When Pamela started at Bluffton, she “didn’t have a clue” what to major in, but liked that the history major was “fluid.” Three years later, she graduated from Bluffton and began working as a social worker—again following in the footsteps of her dad—in the ghettos of Philadelphia, working with state welfare clients.
From candy striper to doctor.
Perhaps a career in medicine was unavoidable, considering that Pamela was a candy striper in her youth. After a year in social work, Pamela decided to go into medicine. Her graduating class at Medical College of Wisconsin (formerly Marquette) in Milwaukee was “the first with any quantity of women,” marking Graber as a leader rather than a follower. She spent time as an ER doctor, then worked in urgent care centers, and was finally approached by an insurance provider to do reviews and audits of charts, medical necessity and quality of care, among other things.
Marketing medicine.
During her almost six-year tenure with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Pamela was medical director of Anthem’s “Healthy Woman” program—an outreach program to encourage on-site wellness programs and to promote women’s issues and health. “It’s nice when you can do the right thing and be marketing, too.” Pamela recently changed jobs and now works as a medical director with WellCare, a government-sponsored health plan provider. There she is responsible for “making medical coverage decisions.”
Best way to spend a free half-hour?
“Read. I’ll read anything that comes into my hand,” says Pamela. “I love the beach and a book.” Particular favorites include the Sunday New York Times and women’s literature. Besides reading, Pamela is an avid birdwatcher; she went on a bird-watching trip to Kenya. “We saw about 500 species of birds in five days,” she says, calling out the golden-breasted starling, an irridescent yellow and blue/green-feathered variety of starling, as one of the most beautiful birds she saw.
Giving back to others.
In true Bluffton fashion, Pamela contributes to mission efforts. She has gone to Africa on medical missions and served with the Public Health Service, providing medical care in downtown New Orleans and rural Louisiana, where services had been disrupted after Hurricane Katrina decimated the southern coast.
— Gina (Faccenda ’98) Mantero
