Profile: Max Weder, MD

Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine
FACULTY PROFILE: MAX M. WEDER, MD

I grew up in West Berlin when it was still a divided city, the oldest of three children, and started medical school in Berlin a few weeks before the Berlin wall came down. I met my wife-to-be, Uta Erdbrügger, at medical school; she was working with Friedrich Luft, a famous nephrologist of Jewish descent who was born in Berlin and immigrated to the U.S. with his parents during World War II to escape the Nazis. He then returned to Germany after the fall of the [Berlin Wall], but kept up his professional connections in the U.S.

He recommended both of us to the internal medicine program at Tulane University in New Orleans, and we started there in 1998. We both trained as fellows at UNC Chapel Hill, and then returned to Germany for a few years. I came back to the U.S. and joined UVA in October of 2008, and Uta joined the Division of Nephrology in January of 2009. I currently serve as medical director of the UVA Lung Transplant Program.

Why medicine?

My father is a dentist, and many of our family friends are physicians. The ability to connect with people, to be allowed into their lives and to help them get better, attracted me to medicine from an early age.

What brought you to UVA?

I traveled through Charlottesville a number of times during my fellowship in Chapel Hill. We have very close friends who own a weekend retreat in Madison County, and I always loved this area. When I interviewed for the job, I met a bunch of great people and thought that I would really enjoy working at UVA. I have not been disappointed.

What excites you about your work?

I work with one of the greatest teams in the Health System — the UVA Lung Transplant Program. I am surrounded by people who love what they do and inspire me every day. Lung transplantation is a medicine of extremes; there are very few interventions that can make such a dramatic difference in people’s lives. To see someone go from debilitation due to end-stage lung disease back to a normal life is highly rewarding and fascinating. It’s also an area of medicine where you get really close to your patients.

(l-r)

Proudest achievement outside the professional realm?

When our triplet boys were babies, my wife and I managed to change their diapers and get them fed in 40 minutes flat. I’m out of shape now, though.

What are you usually doing in your spare time?

Despite a very busy professional and family life, I try to keep up with friends. I love listening to music, and closely follow international news and politics. I also started woodworking two years ago.

Words to live by?

“Everything happens for a reason.” I didn’t have my career all mapped out — I actually wanted to be a cardiologist when I graduated from med school. I would have never imagined being a transplant pulmonologist one day. Opportunities come up, and you just have to take advantage of them.

What about you would surprise us?

I can identify many standard works of classical music after hearing just a couple of bars.

Do you have a favorite piece of music?

It’s difficult for me to name my favorite piece, because it depends on the mood I’m in. Mozart’s piano concerto No. 25 in C major has lifted me up many, many times. I think the first movement is one of the most complex pieces he ever wrote, even if it’s not the most famous. If you have never heard it before — listen to it! [Click here to hear a performance by Mitsuko Uchida.]