Cradle of the North: Some Historic Insights on Giving Birth in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Weldon Chafe, M.D. FACOG, FACS, FRCS (C)
Originally from Gander NL, graduated from Memorial University of Newfoundland Medical School as part of the third graduating class in 1975. Internship and residency in obstetrics and gynecology were completed at McGill University Hospitals in Montreal followed by a fellowship in gynecology oncology at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Being that he was the first fellow in the oncology program at UNC he helped lay the groundwork for that program which is now one of the most sought-after programs in the United States.
Following a return to NL to join the faculty at MUN Medical School, he was subsequently appointed to the faculty of medicine at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. A career in academic medicine finished in 2018 when he retired from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia as Director of Gynecology Oncology at Massey Cancer Center. He was the first recipient of the Dianne Harris Wright Distinguished Professorship in Gynecology Oncology at Virginia Commonwealth University.
An avid runner, he has participated in the historic Boston Marathon four times and has
completed a total of 48 marathons and too numerous to count runs at 5K, 10K and half
marathon distances. He was a volunteer marathon coach for ten years with the Sports
Backers Marathon Training Team in Richmond. He was a participant in the International
World (age group) Triathlon World Championships in the duathlon event held in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2010 as a member of Team USA. In retirement he spends his time between his newly constructed home in Trinity East and his historic home in the Church Hill neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia.
