LEWISBURG, W.Va. (WVDN) — From foreign politics to the arts to medicine, Emily Sperber, D.O., a 2026 West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine graduate, has dipped her toes in all of it.
As a young adult in college, the Rochester, N.Y., native had the opportunity to work for the government in the United Kingdom during a semester abroad, as a luxury wedding and event planner after college and now as a psychiatry resident in her hometown.
The loss of her oldest brother was the reason Sperber initially wanted to pursue a career that did not involve health care, but that loss eventually led her to become a physician.
“I had no idea that I would ultimately choose to pursue a career in medicine,” she said. “My early academic and career decisions were informed by the death of my eldest brother just before my senior year of high school. This was a sad result of complications of injuries he sustained in a car accident many years earlier. Throughout my childhood, he was in and out of hospitals and after his passing I wanted to choose a career distant from health care and the suffering we endured as a family. Obviously, these feelings changed later, and this experience turned out to be a major part of my drive to practice medicine.”
In college, Sperber studied communications and public relations with minors in political science, global studies and studio art. She spent two years of college abroad — her freshman year in Florence, Italy, and her junior year in London, England, and again in Florence.
In England, she was part of the Hansard Scholars Program for select international students to study for one semester at the London School of Economics while working as an intern with the Office of Representatives in the House of Commons and House of Lords. Sperber worked in the House of Commons for a member of parliament who represented Doncaster, an area in South Yorkshire.
“I would correspond with constituents on the phone about their perspectives and especially about areas where they desired change. I would attend committee meetings, help manage the member’s diary and observe the house meetings. I would also fetch afternoon tea, which is a staple for all efficient teams in the U.K.,” she said.
Sperber’s interest in public policy and advocacy provided her the opportunity to write a dissertation on child poverty during her time in England.
“Advocacy has been a real through-line for me over the course of my career,” she said. “It is a major reason I chose medicine and specifically psychiatry.”
After graduating from college, Sperber worked briefly for the United Way of New York City’s marketing and events team, where she developed skills in event design and coordination. She left the city to pursue prerequisite studies for medical school and needed a flexible job that would not interfere with classes.
For about four years Sperber worked for a small, locally owned business called Celebrated Events. The company plans and designs special events in the Rochester and Finger Lakes region, focusing on luxury weddings.
“I was lucky to be part of a tight-knit, multigenerational orchestration team that collaborated on planning, setting up and implementing special events. This often involved working closely with couples getting married and their families and meticulously bringing to life the principal designer’s months of hard work and artistic vision. We were typically the first to arrive and the last to depart, ensuring everything was perfectly styled as designed, that the day flowed as smoothly as planned and that the bride, groom and their guests felt cared for,” she said.
These varied life experiences were important during Sperber’s four years at WVSOM. She said she had the time and space to learn about her core values and priorities before the demands of medical school forced her to decide what specialty she was interested in.
Her communication skills, both written and verbal, were also enhanced.
“I learned to work and communicate with people as they experience one of life’s most important moments. That is a quality I feel can’t be overstated in the development of well-rounded physicians. Our medical knowledge is unhelpful if it is not communicated thoughtfully to our patients and clearly documented in the chart for strong continuity across the medical team,” Sperber said.
More than a decade after beginning her life path, Sperber is confident that she was meant to practice psychiatry. She will complete her residency at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
“I think medicine, and psychiatry specifically, are the perfect combination for me of implementing learning scientific knowledge, shared creativity with the teams I will work with and with my patients, and the sacred opportunity to communicate and share a connection with my patients as they face some of life’s most challenging and uncertain moments,” she said.
Sperber’s life has not been without difficult moments. As a young adult, she did not have a clear career path. But when things seem unclear, she remembers a profound lesson she learned from a teacher during an oil painting class during her freshman year in Italy. After Sperber felt frustrated with the progress of her painting and muted colors that were different from what she envisioned, her teacher provided sound advice.
“She turned to me and said, ‘Let it dry and come back tomorrow with fresh perspective. Once you paint over it, you won’t be left with a muddled painting, you will have clarity and vibrancy with an even richer final product because of the underlying layer you initially did not like. Ultimately, it will be better and have more depth than if you painted it perfectly the first time,’” Sperber said. “This stuck with me and has been a pillar of how I approach life. It’s never too late to pause and repaint. The depth of experience that goes with that is beautiful.”
