Forty Under 40: Michael Macechko

Michael Macechko didn’t take the traditional route to become a physician. Most know they always wanted to be a physician, but he didn’t find out until late into his college life after taking a microbiology course.

Yet taking care of others was something he always did. He awoke early with his grandfather to help him with his medicine. His grandfather would give him M&Ms as if they were medicine, and they would take their ‘medicine’ together.

Since 2012, Macechko has practiced as a physician under his own license after completing the family medicine residency program at UAMS Northwest in Fayetteville. He went from co-chief of the residency program to supervising and instructing his peers there. Macechko also practices in two hospitals, two nursing homes and two clinics.

As a physician and a faculty member, it allows him more flexibility than if he had a private practice and makes house calls regularly.

“One of the most important things we can do is sit and talk with our patients,” he said. His focus is on the patients instead of a computer, and he often spends personal time completing documentation.

The highlight of his career is seeing resident physicians go on to succeed in their careers. The biggest challenge in his career is he often sees patients at their worst and sometimes must give them bad news.

In 2009, he earned a medical degree from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. In 2005, he graduated with bachelors’ degrees in microbiology and history from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

He was born in Oxford but moved to Fayetteville when he was 5. “Northwest Arkansas is really my home,” he said. “I would call Fayetteville my hometown.” He enjoys yardwork, woodwork and is a Razorbacks fan.