An illustration of Dr. A-B by VACEP member, emergency physician, and portrait artist Dr. Jason Bavarian. He and Cat were colleagues in the emergency department at Bon Secours Mary Immaculate Hospital.
The entire Virginia emergency physician community is devastated by the loss of one of our rising stars, Catherine Agustiady-Becker. Even as physicians who have the difficult and honorable role of delivering unexpected news, we are at a loss for words.
Cat was dedicated to emergency medicine. She gave birth to all three of her boys during medical school and residency, loved the diversity of her patient population, and enjoyed caring for all those in need — even in the face of so many challenges in our specialty. She volunteered her own voice on those matters “and this life I chose” in this poetic ode to emergency medicine just last year. Cat was one of our original Leadership and Advocacy Fellows, aspiring not only to treat any person who came through her Mary Immaculate Hospital emergency room doors, but to change the policies and practices of emergency medicine for the greater good, for both her physician peers and the patients she treated.
But above all else, she was a mother, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, and friend.
The Virginia College of Emergency Physicians sends our deepest condolences to Cat’s family and friends, especially her husband Jacob and their three young boys.
If you would like to support the Becker family, Cat’s peers have established a GoFundMe page as well as a meal train. We encourage everyone to take a moment and read about Cat’s life, in her own words, in this February 2020 profile. You can also read her obituary here.
VACEP is in the process of creating a permanent honor of Dr. Agustiady-Becker (“Dr. A-B”) within our organization.
Board of Directors
Virginia College of Emergency Physicians
