We Are IH: Kindness is king for Kamloops neurosurgeon

Depending on her schedule for the day, you’ll either find Dr. Baweja performing operations at the hospital or consulting with patients at her own clinic, which she operates through a shared office space in the Welcome Back Centre (a private medical facility in Kamloops). At her clinic, she sees new referrals and provides follow-up care for patients that she has seen or operated on in the hospital.  

She’s part of a group of four neurosurgeons and they each cover one week of on-call at a time. While on call, they must be available at all times for whatever comes through the door.

When Dr. Baweja was hired at RIH, she became the first female neurosurgeon in the Interior Health region. 

“It was an extremely proud moment for me, but I also felt a sense of sadness,” she said. “It shouldn’t be a novel thing to have a female neurosurgeon amongst your medical staff. In the last 50 years, the proportion of women attending medical school has risen to at least half of each graduating class. The number of women being accepted to specialty training has risen proportionately with this number except for a few specialties - neurosurgery being one of those specialties.”

Dr. Baweja is satisfied with the direction her career is moving in and looks to continue along this path, building her practice into a “busy and productive service to the community.” 

When Dr. Baweja isn’t busy operating or consulting with her patients, you’ll find her spending time with her daughter and exploring the outdoors. Dr. Baweja noted that it was a big adjustment moving to Kamloops, but that she and her daughter have “wholeheartedly embraced” everything the city has to offer.

“My daughter and I have thoroughly enjoyed our experience in Kamloops so far,” she said. “We are so grateful to this community that has embraced us. My colleagues and the administrative team at Royal Inland Hospital have been there for us every step of the way, offering guidance, support and even childcare, to ensure that we have exactly what we need to successfully transition into our new life here in Kamloops.”

Dr. Reena Baweja lives by two important values every day, during and outside of work. 

“One is that I do the very best I can with absolutely everything I do, whether that be with every patient I see, every surgery I undertake, every bedtime story I read or every meal I make for my family,” she said. “Second, kindness is at the forefront of everything I do. No matter what kind of situation I am in, I always let kindness be my guiding force. People have shown great kindness to me and in turn, I try to show that to others.

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