Meet your MEC: Marc Sunday, DO

‘Our job is to make knowledge accessible to our patients and families and meet them where they are’

In this series, we’ll meet members of the Medical Executive Committees (MECs) at Salem and West Valley hospitals so you can get to know the people behind these leadership roles. Next up, Salem Hospital Medical Staff President-Elect Marc Sunday, DO. Dr. Sunday specializes in hospital medicine.

Q: What does it mean to be MEC Staff President-Elect for Salem Hospital?

A: It's a privilege to serve the medical staff in this capacity. The providers at Salem Hospital should have an MEC who advocates and works on their behalf, and I'm honored to do so.

Q: What made you want to specialize in hospital medicine?

A: I knew before I even started medical school that I wanted to specialize in hospital medicine. The hospital always seemed like it was the center of the medical universe and I knew I wanted to work at a hospital, seeing complex patients and solving a broad range of problems.

Q: Why are you a doctor?

A: I have always liked solving puzzles and fixing things, and this profession is the perfect blend of both, while firmly rooted in science. There's so much that we know and don't know about the human body and what can happen to it, and hunting down those problems is the most enjoyable aspect of this profession.

Q: What do you want most for your patients?

A: I want them to understand the “why” behind their pathology, because I think it enhances the buy-in and accountability patients expect for their health. The same can be said of really any human endeavor. If people understand why they should do something, they're more likely to adhere to it. I think that's also the most difficult aspect of my job, because in the end you're trying to alter human behavior, and like I say to my patients all the time, "A doctor is only ever going to ask you to do things you don't want to do."

Q: Why is it important to you to be a compassionate doctor?

A: Patients are vulnerable and scared and don't know what we know. Our job isn't to gatekeep that knowledge — our job is to make that knowledge accessible to our patients and families and meet them where they are. It's important for me to treat my patients how I would want my family to be treated.

Q: Tell me about your hobbies! What do you do in your free time?

A: Sadly, I'm not helping any stereotypes about physicians — because I'd have to say golf is my primary hobby! I like that it's an endless pursuit of improvement and your success doesn't depend on someone else's failure. I also enjoy reading science fiction and cooking. Cooking is a good opportunity to focus and lose yourself in a task and, when you're done, you get to eat it! Also, watching my daughter grow up is an amazing thing to behold — she's turning into an amazing human! She's interested in everything so there's a lot to keep up with in regard to her extracurricular activities!

Q: What’s a fact about you we’d never guess?

A: I'm fluent in Spanish, and I started out in college at a College of Music as a trumpet player. I was doing a study abroad in Mexico and it was eye-opening to be standing in a circle with students from all over the world, all of us conversing with each other with zero interpreters, because all of us spoke Spanish.

Q: Best restaurant in Salem and what do you order there?

A: I really enjoy the Cozy Taberna — pretty much the entire menu is a winner! There used to be a lovely little French restaurant called the Crooked House that sadly closed prior to the pandemic that I also loved.

Q: What’s a recent book you loved and why?

A: I'm currently reading “The Endless Vessel” by Charles Soule. His other two novels, “The Oracle Year” and “Anyone” are two of my favorite books. He does an excellent job telling a compelling story of human achievement and struggle with a sci-fi twist.

Q: What’s the best advice you ever heard?

A: One of my favorite quotes sums it up pretty well: “Life is a difficult teacher. She gives the test first and the lesson afterward.”

Thank you, Dr. Sunday, for sharing with us! We look forward to speaking with our next MEC member, Salem Hospital MRPC Chair and West Valley Hospital Interim MPRC Chair Jennifer Williams, MD, in our next issue.