From Grant to Dr. Sweeny: After years of training, medical learner steps into profession

Say “Dr. Sweeny” to Grant Sweeny and one person comes to mind for the newly minted medical school graduate.

It’s his late grandfather, Dr. George Patrick Sweeny, who was a family physician in Burlington.

That association might never change for the younger Sweeny, but in time, he’s optimistic he’ll get accustomed to hearing Dr. Sweeny in reference to himself. He’ll have to, given that’s how others are now getting to know him.

“It’s weird every time to hear it,” says Sweeny, who graduated from the McMaster University Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine – Niagara Regional Campus (NRC) on May 21. “I’m getting all these emails with Dr. Sweeny in them. I guess I’ll get used to it, but call me Grant, please.”

Sweeny has spent the past three years as a student at the NRC – and by extension, Niagara Health, where he participated in clinical placements – knowing one thing for sure: he would have a new title by the time he was done.

That was about all he was certain of when he started his journey as a medical learner in August 2023 with 31 other aspiring physicians.

When he started, Sweeny thought he might follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, who passed away in 2024. But after completing his pre-clerkship electives one year into his studies, urology beckoned with its mix of clinical and surgical care.

Sweeny’s graduation ceremony in May marked the end of that chapter of self-discovery. However, the most meaningful moment in this segue to the next part of his training wasn’t walking across a stage to receive his degree. It was joining his NRC classmates in reciting the Hippocratic Oath in front of family members.

Ten of his relatives, including his wife, Emily, his parents, siblings and Emily’s extended family, attended his oath ceremony.

As he recited passages about practising medicine with warmth and sympathy, respecting patient privacy and treating the person rather than the illness, he had a clear view to his dad – and a connection to his grandfather who pledged the same ethical code decades before him.

“Beyond all the medical information and jargon and abbreviations crammed into our brains the last three years, the importance of the person in medicine is something that sticks with me and I’ll carry forward into the next stage, where the stakes are higher."

“It was much more personal and special because it was only those from the graduating medicine class who did it,” Sweeny says. “Being able to have my family there for that moment was really meaningful.”

Reciting the Hippocratic Oath reinforced some of the most important lessons he learned at NRC, where he says he had greater autonomy and opportunity to work closely with patients than he would have had at other medical schools.

“Beyond all the medical information and jargon and abbreviations crammed into our brains the last three years, the importance of the person in medicine is something that sticks with me and I’ll carry forward into the next stage, where the stakes are higher. It’s really set me up for success.”

And for that, he’s grateful.

“Medical education wouldn’t be anything without the support of family but also the health system we work with,” Sweeny says. “Doctors, nurses, staff, patients – they let us into their lives and give us the opportunity to learn and grow. I’m incredibly grateful to have served with them and served patients at Niagara Health. It’s been a unique blessing of this journey.”

The final milestone in his academic path wasn’t easy to get to. His last few rotations were in surgical specialties, involving shifts at all hours of the day and long stretches of being on-call, ready to head to the operating room at a moment’s notice.

There were also the final in-class sessions to tie up loose ends followed by exams, all while another feat of mental and physical strength was going on in the background.

Sweeny started training last fall for a bodybuilding competition that took place in London, Ont., just days before graduating. His regimen was 26 weeks of intense physical workouts, dieting and eventually subsisting on 1,500 calories a day to get down to six per cent body fat for the event.

“Was it a bigger challenge than medical school? It might have been, partially because I couldn’t have dessert at Christmas or cake on my birthday,” he says with a laugh.

The first order of business after his graduation ceremony was enjoying a celebratory meal that included carbs and a long-awaited dessert.

Now, it’s getting used to being called Dr. Sweeny. In time, that title will expand to Dr. Sweeny, Urologist.

On July 2, Sweeny began the next stage in his medical training – a five-year residency in urology at Western University. The specialty had a 58-per-cent match rate this year, making it more competitive than usual.

Already settled in London with Emily, he’s ready to be the next Dr. Sweeny.

“I feel incredibly lucky to be doing this, and it’s what I want to do. I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.”