Deborah Vatcher MD was born in Wichita, Kansas, in the heartland of America near the height of the Cold War. After several moves, her family settled in Upstate New York, where one of her first experiences in her new home was the Northeast Blackout of 1965. Vatcher attended the Rochester public schools, through junior high school, and then was awarded a scholarship to attend the Harley School, a private college preparatory school in Rochester, New York. During high school her oboe studies began in earnest, taking lessons with Robert Sprenkle (1914-1988), a professor of oboe at the Eastman School of Music. Vatcher received the English Department Award during senior year at Harley, awarded by the English Department Faculty. After high school, she attended Harpur College, at the State University of New York at Binghamton, graduating with a double major in Biological Sciences and Music, as well as completing courses in creative writing and literature. While in college, she played oboe professionally with the Binghamton Symphony Orchestra, and studied oboe privately with Humbert Lucarelli, professor of oboe at the Hartt School. After graduation from college, she worked at the Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, in the Endocrine Hypertension Unit, as a clinical laboratory technician, while continuing academic studies at Boston University, taking course work in Quantum Chemistry, after which she was accepted to the University of Massachusetts Medical School, in Worcester, and graduated with a Doctor in Medicine. Vatcher served as an Intern and Resident at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, in Newton, Massachusetts, and was Chief Medical Resident during the third year of the Internal Medicine residency. After completing training, she joined the medical practice of a busy local internist.



Several years ago, Dr. Vatcher fell ill, and has not been actively practicing. She is a current member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and the American College of Physicians, and is board certified in Internal Medicine.