MEMBERS
DR . Who
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT BARBARA WEAKLEY-JONES , MD
Aaron Burch
Although you may not be familiar with Dr . Barbara Weakley-Jones , you know of her work . As the Jefferson County Coroner and longtime State Medical Examiner , Dr . Weakley-Jones has professionally examined or documented many major fatalities outside of a hospital in the last 37 years .
The first Chief Medical Examiner , Dr . George Nichols , hired her as an assistant in 1981 . Dr . Weakley-Jones found a fascination with analyzing the deceased .
“ I enjoyed doing autopsies ,” she explained , reminiscing about her 30 years as a medical examiner . “ Most people don ’ t but , for me , each person was like getting a new book .”
Although she has made a career of examining the deceased for the Commonwealth of Kentucky , this path was not Dr . Weakley-Jones ’ first choice , believe it or not . As the daughter of a general surgeon and an anesthesiologist , she was familiar with the intricacies of health care from a very early age . However , her interests were decidedly elsewhere .
“ I was going to teach and train horseback riding ,” she explained . It was her passion , growing up riding the family ’ s two horses . She studied for two years at Stephens College Equestrian Center in Missouri , but the future looked too pricey to make a final commitment . “ It ’ s a very expensive hobby and hard to build into a career . So , I took my love of animals and decided I wanted to be a veterinarian instead .”
Returning to Louisville to finish the science courses she needed , Dr . Weakley-Jones applied to numerous veterinary universities . “ I was applying out of state , because Kentucky still doesn ’ t have a vet school . I had good grades but after two years of applying , I only received one interview . No one would take me . There just weren ’ t many female veterinarians in those days ,” she said .
Determined to pursue the science she ’ d been working towards , Dr . Weakley-Jones applied to the UofL School of Medicine and was quickly accepted . If she could show the veterinary universities she
had what it took in another scientific discipline , they had to accept her . She started medical school in 1973 , and found it rewarding in its own right .
Although she loved practicing medicine , Dr . Weakley-Jones grew attached to her patients and was devastated when some were lost . “ I realized that I couldn ’ t deal with my patients dying . I sat there and cried for my patients in internal medicine ,” she said . “ It was just terrible . I ’ d go home and wonder , ‘ Did I miss something ?’ So , I looked to other specialties .”
Inspired by her older brother , who was partly paralyzed due to a flu vaccine reaction when he was in middle school , Dr . Weakley-Jones became interested in physical medicine and rehabilitation . “ He ended up totally paralyzed on his left side . I ’ m amazed he survived . My brother ’ s doing fine today . He can walk and talk , but he still doesn ’ t have feeling on that side .”
Not long after she began medical school , Dr . Weakley-Jones met her husband-to-be , Dr . W . Scott Jones . The couple stayed together and made plans to marry . However , to stay together through residency matching , they each had a limited number of specialties to choose from . It was no problem for her husband , a general surgeon in training . For Dr . Weakley-Jones though , she had to once again
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Editor ’ s Note : Welcome to Louisville Medicine ’ s member spotlight section , Dr . Who ? In the interest of simply getting to know each other as a society of colleagues , we ’ ll be highlighting random GLMS physicians on a regular basis . If you would like to recommend any GLMS physician member to the Editorial Board for this section , please e-mail aaron . burch @ glms . org or call him at 736-6338 .
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