MUSC - Legacies newsletter

LEGACIES

MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA | Spring 2019

Celebrating the spirit of philanthropy and the power of giving | musc.edu/giving

A gift from the heart We are excited to share that longtime Charleston businessman Gene Reed Jr. has donated $5 million to the pediatric cardiac program at MUSC Children’s Health. Reed’s gift will help support advanced technology and services in the new MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital, and for that we are so grateful.

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eed announced his gift Jan. 31 during a check presentation ceremony in the current children’s hospital atrium. A donor to the MUSC Children’s Hospital since 1996, Reed said he listened closely to his own heart when deciding how to further support children and their families in the new facility.

“I saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help some of the most vulnerable patients who come to MUSC for medical help: children with heart problems,” Reed said. “It’s an honor to be involved with something that will have such an important impact on the lives of these young people and their families.”

In recognition of this transformative gift, the children’s heart program floor in the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital will be named for him.

“We are incredibly grateful for this gift and what it means for our patients and their families,” said Medical University of South Carolina Health CEO Patrick J. Cawley, M.D. “Since the late 1980s, our children’s heart program has cared for all children in the state of South Carolina who need complex, high-quality heart treatments, interventions, and monitoring. Mr. Reed’s support of this important program demonstrates a real commitment to the health and wellness of children in the Lowcountry and beyond.”

The new facility’s Gene Reed Jr. Heart Floor will encompass the most comprehensive children’s heart center in South Carolina, including two catheterization/electrophysiology suites and two cardiac-specific operating suites. It also will allow for hybrid catheterization procedures for the diagnosis and advanced treatment of children born with congenital heart defects. Designed to promote family centered healing, the new floor will offer private rooms, comfortable furniture, sleepers, and other amenities for visiting family. The floor also will include three child life rooms where children can relax and play while not undergoing treatment.

Gene Reed with (l-r) daughter, Debbie Lallier; wife, Johnnie Ree; and Jeanne Hall.

The MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital is scheduled to open in October 2019.

this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help some of the most vulnerable patients “whoI saw come to MUSC for medical help: children with heart problems. It’s an honor to be involved with something that will have such an important impact on the lives of these young people and their families. -Gene Reed Jr.

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LEGACIES, SPRING 2019

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LEGACIES

PLANS FOR NEW COLLEGE OF PHARMACY SPACE MOVING FORWARD

By Melissa Varner

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fter years of planning, the Medical University has hired an architectural firm – Compass 5 Partners – to design the future home of the MUSC College of Pharmacy.

With the project now in the design phase, construction is anticipated to begin in late 2020.

Once started, construction on the new College of Pharmacy building is expected to take 18 months.

The new facility will be built on the Horseshoe, in the heart of MUSC’s campus. This location brings the College closer to its practice pharmacy and research in the Drug Discovery Building.

“This is a truly historic moment for the MUSC College of Pharmacy,” said Terry Blackmon, chair of the MUSC Building Leadership Committee.

“For a long time, we’ve all been working on behalf of an idea. To be one of the people present as it takes its first physical form is an extraordinary privilege. I’m grateful for all the hard work and passion of the MUSC pharmacy alumni, faculty, staff, friends, and students.”

Plans call for the construction of a 24,000square-foot space, plus the renovation of shared space in the adjacent Basic Science Building and Colbert Education Center.

For years, College leadership and alumni have been advocating for a modern space to replace the current 80-year-old building on Calhoun Street.

The new facility is expected to further strengthen the College’s competitive position in attracting the nation’s top students and faculty.

Radiologist, ’49, supports family medicine students with scholarship

The Building Leadership Committee, which is made up of Pharmacy alumni and College leadership, was created to support the vision of a state-of-the-art space that would complement and leverage the school’s other strengths, which include an outstanding faculty, excellent programs, and an affiliation with a major teaching hospital.

“When Dean Hall asked me to serve on the committee, I told him our success would depend on commitment and collaboration,” said Mike Heath, founding chair of the MUSC Building Leadership Committee. “It’s been incredibly gratifying to see so many people in the MUSC pharmacy family invest their time, talent, and resources to make this dream a reality.”

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t was such a blessing to get that email,” Sasha Perez, M.D., said. She remembered sitting in a Chick-fil-A studying, and wondering how she would pay for her medical license with no job and no paycheck. She needed it to start residency in just a few short months.

“I had no idea that it was coming, so that was just huge,” Perez said.

The email was from the MUSC College of Medicine, telling Perez she was the first recipient of the Celia K. and Howard J. Barnhard, M.D., FACR Endowed Scholarship in Family Medicine.

Dr. Barnhard and his wife started the scholarship in 2013 with a $100,000 gift from an IRA rollover. Barnhard, who had recently retired from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, wanted to give back to his alma mater. He graduated from MUSC almost 70 years ago, when he was 24 years old.

Today most students start medical school at that age. Barnhard got an earlier start – he was 16 when he enrolled at the University of Florida in 1941. Just a few months later, the Japanese

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LEGACIES, SPRING 2019

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COLLEGE OF PHARMACY BUILDING NAMED “The Michael P. Araneo Building” on Calhoun Street houses 80 years of memories

By Roby Hill , MUSC College of Pharmacy

LEGACIES

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college is built on the backs of its supporters, so it seems appropriate that the MUSC College of Pharmacy has one of its supporters back on its building.

The late Michael P. Araneo was a visionary businessman, entrepreneurial pharmacist, and longtime supporter of the MUSC College of Pharmacy. At the December 2018 meeting of the MUSC Board of Trustees, the board approved the College’s request to name the current College of Pharmacy building at 280 Calhoun Street “The Michael P. Araneo Building” in honor of this good friend and benefactor of the College.

“The College of Pharmacy has been in this building for nearly 80 years,” said Philip D. Hall, dean of the MUSC College of Pharmacy. “A tremendous amount of our institutional memory has been made here. Naming the building in honor of Mr. Araneo pays tribute to the integral part he played in enabling many of those memories to be made. In his vision, generosity and spirit, he has been one of the most significant contributors to the overall growth and advancement of the College.”

When the College relocates to its new facility, the Araneo name will go with it and occupy a prominent space within the new structure.

“We wanted to do this now because this building is the most recognizable symbol of our history and we wanted to honor him in it both here and in our future home,” Hall said.

Araneo was a pioneer in discount pharmacy. A New Jersey native, he graduated from the Rutgers University Pharmacy School in 1929 and managed three discount drug stores in Jersey City. He moved to Charleston in 1934 and, by all accounts, changed the face of Lowcountry pharmacy.

bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States entered World War II. Barnhard took advantage of a wartime program that allowed him to graduate in two years, and then applied to be a military officer.

He took the qualifying exam in UF’s auditorium. “We walked in and were given a clipboard with paper on it,” Barnhard explained.

“And if we walked to the right side, we were applying for the Navy. And if we walked to the left side we’re applying to the Army.”

Barnhard wound up in Charleston because he walked to the right. The Navy shipped him to the Medical College of South Carolina to finish his medical training.

“Not only did I finish medical school there, I trained further in radiology at Roper Hospital, which was a teaching hospital for the Medical College of South Carolina,” Barnhard said.

Discount pharmacy was a new concept for the area and he opened a series of highly-successful stores. For nearly two decades his store was the leading drug outlet in the city and when he sold his last store in 1950, it was the largest discount store in the Southeast.

In 1999 Araneo made what was, at the time, the largest gift ever to the Medical University: a $4.5 million commitment to support MUSC’s Pharmaceutical Development Center, a cutting-edge facility whose dual mission incorporated educational and industrial opportunities.

A widower of Helene Fitzpatrick Araneo, Michael Araneo passed away in 2000 and was survived by two daughters, Helene Ackerman and Alycia A. Craft; four grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.

While Barnhard specialized in radiology, his scholarship is exclusively for students pursuing family medicine – an area he says is sometimes looked down on by other specialties.

“I think the problem is we have a bunch of proselytizers in other fields who look down their noses at family practice and don’t recognize its true value,” Barnhard said. “It’s a very, very important part of our system.

And I think it deserves more support and credit.”

Perez’s professors at the College of Medicine warned her she would face pressure to switch specialties. She remembers being asked at work and in med school why she would want to enter family medicine.

Variety is a big reason. “I saw a 99-year-old and the next visit was a 2-day-old,” she said. “That was just the coolest thing. You can’t do that in anything else.”

Because family doctors treat all ages and such a variety of conditions, they must also be committed to lifelong learning, as medicine is constantly changing.

the building in honor “of Naming Mr. Araneo pays tribute to

the integral part he played in enabling many of those memories to be made. In his vision, generosity and spirit, he has been one of the most significant contributors to the overall growth and advancement of the College.

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- Philip D. Hall, dean of the MUSC College of

Pharmacy

“If you’re interested in a challenge, then family medicine’s definitely the right one,” Perez said.

She has discovered another perk now that she’s out of residency and running a practice in West Ashley. “Being able to get out in a reasonable time and enjoy my life afterwards, go to the gym, cook dinner – which is harder to do during residency.”

More than anything, Perez loves making a connection with her patients and a difference to the families in her community. “I wouldn’t be happy doing anything else,” she said.

She’s grateful to the Barnhards for helping her start her medical career with less stress and less debt. In addition to covering her licensing fees, the Barnhard scholarship also helped pay down the interest on her six-figure education.

“Thank you so much your support and for focusing on family medicine,” Perez said. “It means a lot, especially from somebody who’s not a family medicine doctor to recognize our work.”

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LEGACIES, SPRING 2019

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LEGACIES

Father of the bridge run faces adversity head on

Gifts at work We are pleased to share the following letter from a grateful parent to MUSC President David Cole and Dental Dean Sarandeep Huja, after her daughter’s first visit to the new Delta Dental of South Carolina Accessible Treatment Area in the Pamela Kaminski Center

by Dawn Brazell, MUSC Hollings Cancer Center Editor’s note: A full version of the following article originally appeared in the winter 2019 issue of Hollings Horizons. Shortly afterwards, and just before its publication here, Julian Smith died from glioblastoma. On behalf of Hollings Cancer Center, MUSC Children’s Hospital and the entire Medical University, where Julian served so well and for so long, we wish to express our deepest condolences to his family and friends. We will miss him tremendously.

Hi Drs. Cole and Huja,

As you will read below, Julian established a new fund to support glioblastoma research at Hollings Cancer Center. To make a gift to this fund in Julian’s memory, please visit musc.ejoinme.org/julian-smith-memorial-gifts.

J

ulian Smith’s familiar with racing. Just about all his life, he’s been in some kind of run for his life.

His passion for running began at age 7, when his father made him take it up after a bout of rheumatic fever, and culminated in his becoming director of the Cooper River Bridge Run in 1994.

The 2019 Cooper River Bridge Run was the first time in 25 years the race had taken place without Smith in charge. Smith resigned in January after publicly sharing his fight with an aggressive brain cancer.

Smith is affectionately known as the “father of the bridge run” because of the incredible impact he’s had on the race. Under his direction, the race has grown to become one of the largest 10Ks in the country. The event now pumps $30 million into the local economy each year and raises money for more than a dozen charities, including MUSC Shawn Jenkin’s Children’s Hospital and MUSC Hollings Cancer Center.

Smith is also personally raising money for cancer research at Hollings – he wants to find a cure for glioblastoma. Smith has been fighting it aggressively since his diagnosis last year.

His symptoms started with dizzy spells that made him stagger when he walked. “I would stand up, and the room would start spinning like a top,” Smith said. “I was holding on to whatever I could hold onto.”

An MRI revealed a lesion on his brain and swelling. Doctors explained he had a type of brain tumor called glioblastoma, the same type Sen. John McCain had. For a while, Smith kept the news to himself. He thought of the bridge run that was just two months away.

“I was devastated when I found out the second (actually third) time that I had cancer,” he said. Smith first beat skin cancer on his face.

Then in 2006, scans showed two nodules in his neck. They were two kinds of thyroid cancer, follicular and papillary. Smith needed surgery but didn’t want to miss the bridge run the next week – it would be the first on the new Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge. After compromising with his doctor, Smith had the surgery but still showed up for the race with a big bandage on his neck. He followed up the surgery with radioactive iodine treatment.

Four weeks after the 2018 Cooper River Bridge Run, Smith had surgery to remove the brain tumor, followed by six weeks of radiation with chemotherapy. He also wore an Optune

device, a cap that generates an alternating electrical field that stops or slows the growth of cancer cells.

Smith said he’s been so touched by the outpouring of support from friends and his care team at Hollings, including his radiation oncologist Joseph Jenrette. “Dr. Jenrette and his team have been so awesome. I saw them every day for a while, and they became like part of my family.

Dr. Jenrette and Dr. Cachia really helped me through a really rough time.”

It’s one reason he created a glioblastoma fund for cancer research at Hollings Cancer Center.

His friend Pam Hartley, who does marketing for the bridge run, suggested kicking off the fund with a film screening this past October.

Smith loved the idea. And, in true bridge run style, he decided there had to be a T-shirt.

It sports the slogan: Never Quit Killing It — Cancer.

“I don’t want this to be about me. I want it to be about glioblastoma and finding a cure. I want it to be about how this horrible thing comes to people.”

Janis Newton, director of MUSC’s Wellness Center, said she’s not surprised that Smith wanted to start this fund. She’s known Smith 30 years and it fits his generous heart.

“Julian is the most huggable, loveable and fun person ever. He always brings a smile to my face and is the best person to have a laugh attack with. Julian is not only generous with financial donations and fundraising, but he is generous in his heart and giving of himself to others. I don’t know anyone else like Julian Smith, and I am proud and honored to have him as a friend.”

Smith, 67, said the friends opening up their hearts to tell him these kinds of sentiments make all the difference to him. “I want people to come and learn about glioblastoma, and I want them to help me find a cure for it. I’m a fighter. I have so many good friends. Every day I have friends checking on me, saying they are praying for me and saying the sweetest things. All of that helps.”

It helps him stay committed to the fight.

“I kicked cancer once before. If anybody can do it, I can. I have a great positive attitude about it. I’ve read the statistics, and it’s not good, but I’m going to do everything I can. I’m going to give it a good run.”

Almost 16 years ago, our daughter Pattison Julia (we call her PJ) was born and we knew something wasn’t right. Months went by and we couldn’t get answers from the pediatrician. PJ screamed constantly. When I started reading the birth records trying to figure ANYTHING out, microcephaly was noted. I had no idea what that meant, but my husband had grown up with Drs. Maria and Carlos Salinas’ children and we reached out to Carlos. He was the first person who knew PJ had serious issues and started the ball rolling for us to see some specialists here at MUSC. I had no idea at the time what the Salinas family would mean to our daughter. Nor did I fully understand what MUSC would mean to us as a family.

PJ is nonverbal and has spastic quadriplegia with hearing and vision impairments. In addition she is profoundly intellectually disabled. In my daughter’s short life of 16 years, we have had many surgeries and I have seen MUSC grow just as PJ has. The MUSC we started with has made amazing progress in such a short period of time.

And today on Valentine’s Day, PJ had a dental appointment in the special needs dental clinic here at MUSC. We walked into a new room sponsored by Delta Dental. It was specifically designed for people in wheelchairs and on gurneys. No one was tripping over cords. Equipment came to her. I didn’t have to transfer her out of her wheelchair (she weighs 100 pounds so while I still do all of her transfers, I appreciate when I don’t have to). I was able to stay in the room and assist the dental team with her care and not feel like I was getting in the way. I was less stressed. PJ was less stressed because she was in her own chair that she was familiar with and felt comfortable. A traditional dental chair is kind of a nightmare to someone who needs custom wheelchair seating: imaging feeling like you are going to fall out of something at any moment while people are putting things in your mouth. I was expecting to not have such a good day, but I was so overwhelmingly surprised and happy.

So on this Valentine’s Day, we had a great day thanks to Dr. Ziegler and the dental students.

I know this is a labor of love and isn’t easy or profitable in the least. And thanks to Delta Dental for designing a room like this for special needs patients. And especially thank you to MUSC and Stephanie for continuing to support the legacy that the Salinas family started.

Happy Valentine’s Day from PJ! Pam Loudon

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LEGACIES, SPRING 2019

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LEGACIES

Lab gives residents “gift of education” in memory of school teacher

by Melissa Varner

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elinda Barker retired from teaching in Beaufort County elementary schools after 30 years, but she never stopped helping people. Not even when she was sick with pancreatic cancer.

During one of her stays at Ashley River Tower, her husband, Steve Barker, told her about a patient two doors down. There was a large sign outside the door that read, ‘Patient is blind.’

“I walked past that room, probably 30 times, and never saw anybody,” Barker said. “I said to Belinda, ‘This poor guy. Can you imagine being blind and in the hospital and nobody there?’”

gift will absolutely impact “theHislearning of every single

resident that comes through this program. Every surgery they do a little piece of his gift will be with them, because that will stay with them forever.

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-Dr. Andrew Eiseman, chairman of the Storm Eye

Institute and the Department of Ophthalmology

Mrs. Barker quizzed the next nurse who walked in the room, asking if there were any resources for blind patients, like books on tape. When the nurse said no, she looked at her husband and said, ‘Next time you give money to the Medical University, designate it for the blind.’

“She was a school teacher,” he said. “She was always trying to help people.”

Belinda Barker passed away on March 21, 2015.

At her funeral, Steve Barker asked family and friends to remember his wife by making a donation to the fund he set up in her name to help the blind. He had no idea his own sight would be threatened just a couple of years later.

By March of 2017, cataracts were starting to blur Barker’s vision and he was scared to have them removed. “You know, I can see. I didn’t want something to happen – lose sight in one eye or something else like that.”

His fear also stemmed from seeing his mother have her cataracts removed decades earlier. “When my mother had hers done in 1955, they had to sandbag her head for 10 days,” he explained. “There weren’t many people even doing eye surgery back then.”

The surgery used to require a two-week stay in the hospital, with sandbags to hold a patient’s head still while the eye healed. It is a vastly different surgery today.

“I did laser surgery,” Barker said. “I doubt that my surgery lasted more than 10 minutes at the most.”

After surgery, he could see clearly and found colors to be “much more vivid.” He was also presented with a new vision for his wife’s legacy – creating The Belinda C. Barker Surgical Training Suite at the MUSC Storm Eye Institute (SEI).

The vision for the suite came from third-year resident Dr. Susannah Brown, who submitted a proposal to update the fifth-floor wet lab where every resident trains before performing their first eye surgery.

Steve Barker, left, with his daughter-in-law and stepson, Anna and Jarret Chassereau.

“The equipment we had was built in West Germany, and that hasn’t been a country for about 30 years,” Brown said.

In a field where techniques and technology are constantly evolving, an updated lab is critical for training residents and giving them room to practice their skills.

“There was only one microscope, only one resident could use it at a time, and there was no video link up so that someone couldn’t even tell what that person practicing was doing,” said Dr. Andrew Eiseman, chairman of the Storm Eye Institute and the Department of Ophthalmology.

The renovated lab features a two-station training suite with new Leica microscopes and wall-mounted TVs that make it possible for everyone in the lab to

see what’s happening under the microscope.

Custom cabinetry and new countertops add much-needed storage. The updated space will also attract highly qualified candidates to the already competitive residency program at SEI. “His gift will absolutely impact the learning of every single resident that comes through this program,” Eiseman said. “Every surgery they do a little piece of his gift will be with them, because that will stay with them forever.”

Brown said the lab, where future generations of eye surgeons will learn, is a fitting tribute for a teacher who wanted to help the blind. “The gift of education is one of the best gifts you can give,” she said. “Each one of us residents who go through this program will touch thousands and thousands of patients with an even better skill set because of this training center.”

The lab was dedicated in Belinda Barker’s name in December, with her son, Jarret, by Steve Barker’s side. “Belinda has a son, my stepson, and a grandson,” Barker said. “When I signed off on this, I called Jarret and told him what I was doing. I said, you know, you and Colin can come up here and say ‘That’s my mother. She did this.’”

Belinda Barker retired from teaching in Beaufort County elementary schools after 30 years, but she never stopped helping people. Not even when she was sick with pancreatic cancer.

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LEGACIES, SPRING 2019

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LEGACIES

Gift gives cancer patients exercise alternative

by Melissa Varner

You have to be pretty special to have a fan club – especially one made up of teenagers. “Understand Mr. Johnson, he has quite a fan club,” coworker Cindy Branscome explained. “He’s adored by many.

He makes his rounds up and down the breezeway on a daily basis to make sure that he speaks to all the students, says ‘Hello,’ and makes it a point to be involved in their lives.”

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rian Johnson teaches high schoolers physical education and health at the Charleston County School of the Arts (SOA).

He also coaches boys cross country for Academic Magnet.

In fall of 2017, Johnson was making his rounds on the seventh floor of Ashley River Tower (ART) instead of the breezeway at SOA. His leukemia had come back; he was at ART for more chemotherapy six months after having a bone marrow transplant.

“I was in the hospital for a few stints of 23 to 24 days each where my only way of being active was basically walking laps around the ART building,” Johnson said. “So I walked a lot of laps, some of those laps I was towing my IV pole with me. There weren’t a whole lot of opportunities for exercise.”

Clinical staff leader Jessica Shaw says patients get bored in their rooms or walking in circles.

“Staying in their room gets really dull, they need to be active, keep their strength up,” Shaw said.

She and the other nurses had been working on an alternative. Shaw had applied for and won a $500 grant from the Get Well Network to go towards the purchase of an exercise bicycle. Another $2,000 came from Jog for Johnson, a mile-long run around the SOA campus organized by Johnson’s students,

Hollings Cancer Center board member Ben Hagood (left) and Brian Johnson at the ribbon cutting for the new stationary bicycles located on the seventh floor of Ashley River Tower. athletes, and fellow PE teacher, Cindy Branscome.

“When he got sick that was devastating to all of us,” Branscome said. “And the students immediately wanted to do something to help. It was a huge success.”

The donation inspired Shaw and her team to redouble their efforts. She started researching stationary bicycles and enlisted the help of Hollings Cancer Center board member Ben Hagood in getting approval and additional funding for the bikes. Hagood also had a unique perspective as a former patient of the seventh floor of Ashley River Tower.

“When I was in there, I really wanted to keep exercise up, as best I could,” Hagood said. “And so I would put my mask on and go out in the hall and walk the length of the hospital floor in circles, one big long circle after another.”

Hagood is a survivor of multiple myeloma. Last spring, he was getting ready to leave for a sailing trip to the Caribbean when a blood test revealed a new cancer diagnosis: acute leukemia. Instead of sailing, he started treatment – three months of chemo followed by a stem cell transplant that kept him confined to the seventh floor of ART for about a month. During his stay, he asked his nurses what he

Patients can now get exercise while enjoying a view of the Ashley River and surrounding marshes.

“I think that being physically active, being conscious of that during my treatment definitely helped. I think my doctors would agree on that.”

- Brian Johnson could do for exercise besides walking the hall. That’s when he learned they were raising money to buy stationary bikes for patients to ride.

“I just started thinking, gosh, we need to figure out how to make this happen,” Hagood said. “My wife was teasing me. She said, ‘You’re stuck in here looking for things to do.’”

When Hagood got out of the hospital, he got to work.

“I had been out of the hospital three weeks at most, I had lost all my hair… and I was still wearing a mask and gloves when I went out in public to avoid infection,” Hagood recalls. “I was not able to attend the fall meeting of the Hollings Cancer Center Advisory Board but I came in at the end, took off my mask and said hello to all my colleagues on the board and told them about my experience and the need for getting some stationary bikes.”

His plea led to approval for the bikes and even individual contributions from some of the board members, coming to an additional $2,500. So far, Shaw has placed two bikes in the seventh floor family waiting room. Patients who ride them get a panoramic view of the Ashley River and Charleston Harbor. Eventually, Shaw would like to add a third bike to the east side, along with a small gym for patients.

Both Hagood and Johnson credit exercise with making a positive impact on their recovery.

“I think it helps when you deal with a blood cancer, you get your blood moving … you’ve got some basic exercise going on,” Hagood said. “It’s got to be healthy.”

“I think that being physically active, being conscious of that during my treatment definitely helped,” said Johnson. “I think my doctors would agree on that.”

They also make it clear, this was a team effort.

“Between the students and Cindy, they pretty much did everything,” Johnson continued. “I didn’t really have much to do with it.”

“Jessica and the other nurses deserve the credit,” Hagood said. “They’re incredible.”

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LEGACIES

Perseverance pays off with scholarship for father of five

by Melissa Varner

S

earch for David Riggs on YouTube and you’ll find videos of him as a competitive rollerblader – grinding rails, flipping through the air, and balancing on whatever he could find.

Now the 37-year-old balances life as a full-time dental student, a husband, and father of five.

“My oldest is 16,” David said. “We have a 6-year-old, a 5-year-old, a 3-year-old, and a 1-year-old.”

David wasn’t always so driven. As an undergraduate at the University of Central Arkansas, he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life.

He changed majors three times before deciding to take a break from school. Around the same time, he discovered he was going to be a dad for the first time. His priorities immediately shifted to finding a job with insurance.

“I started working in a cafeteria at a hospital when I found out my oldest son was on the way,” David said. “Mainly so I could get benefits.”

In less than a year, he was working in the operating room as a scrub. There he met a maxillofacial surgeon who offered him a job and taught him the basics of dentistry.

“He’s the one who really took me under his wing and showed me the ins and outs of dentistry,” David said. “Model pouring, waxing up teeth, how to make simple temporary partials. I was really very blessed to have that opportunity.”

After working as a surgical dental assistant for a few years, David knew he wanted to be a dentist.

He went back to school in 2005 to study biology.

By the end of 2006, his life changed again. “I was in school, working, and going through a divorce,” David said. He also took on full custody of his 4-year-old son – raising him alone while working towards his degree.

David Riggs with Dental Dean Sarandeep Huja, DDS, Ph.D. Despite the added stress of working full-time and being a single dad, David got good grades his second time around. But his first few semesters in college still brought down his overall average.

He first took the Dental Admission Test (DAT) his junior year. He took the test again his senior year, and once more after graduation. His scores

“When I got the phone call saying I was accepted to MUSC, I think my heart actually stopped. I felt like I was in a dream.” - David Riggs were improving but his options were not – he was waitlisted everywhere he applied.

“For me, I just didn’t know that it was going to be an option in the future,” said David.

Instead, he focused on providing for his growing family. David remarried after graduation and within a few years, the new family of three became a family of five. David remembers explaining to a new boss why he hadn’t gone to dental school.

“I was like, ‘Well, you know… I gave that a shot, I decided to work and try to get myself financially in a better position for my family.’ He said, ‘Well, now that you’ve done that, what’s your excuse?’”

It was the push he needed. David asked and received a special exception to take the DAT a fourth time.

“I studied my butt off and really dug in,” David said. This time, the results were different. “When I got the phone call saying I was accepted to MUSC, I think my heart actually stopped. I felt like I was in a dream.”

After 13 years as a surgical dental assistant, David’s dream was back on track. “I was really excited that all that hard work was totally worth it.”

In May of 2016, he moved his family more than 800 miles from Arkansas to attend the James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine at MUSC. David knew it would be hard to go back to school while raising a family, but he also knew it would be worth it. His own mother had shown him that.

“She was single, raising two kids, and getting her degrees,” David explained. “She now has an MBA degree and she’s CFO for Travel Nurse back in Arkansas. Watching her work from basically nothing to building everything that she has right now has been one of the biggest inspirations.”

Going back to school would mean sacrifices for the whole family. No steady paycheck, but steadily

building debt from the loans David needs to pay for school. David estimates he’ll owe half a million by the time he graduates.

“My wife and I budget, we’ve always been very frugal because we have children, and we’re constantly aware of our spending,” he said. “But when I get out of dental school I’m just hoping that carries over and we’re able to accomplish getting rid of our large debt as soon as we can while living in our means.”

He also relies on scholarships to help pay down his loans. Earlier this year David was the recipient of the Arthur L. Haisten Scholarship, named for a former dean. He says getting a scholarship feels like a reward for hard work, but more than that, it makes a real difference to his family.

“That scholarship is not for me,” he explained.

“That scholarship is going directly to my family.”

Scholarships will also be important for his teenage son, who graduates high school in 2020 – the same year David graduates dental school.

“I stress to him to take advantage of those opportunities,” he said. “Because when you get into grad school or any professional school a lot of those options aren’t the same. That’s one reason I do feel very privileged to accept the scholarships that I have because there’s not a lot of them out there and we have a lot of debt coming our way.”

David’s family is proud of all he’s accomplished.

“I’ll be the first doctor in my family, and one of the first to graduate high school on my dad’s side.”

The Riggs family plans to return to Arkansas after graduation. The boss who pushed David to go to dental school opened a dental plaza – and he’s saving a spot for David.

“They have an open suite that will available when I finish school,” he said. “They said it’s mine if I want it.”

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LEGACIES

“I knew I had to become a nurse”

by Sarah Schwartz, MUSC College of Nursing

A

“

fter what I had just seen and experienced, I knew I had to become a nurse,” said Mary Neff, Nursing Class of ‘97, as she thought back to the very moment she knew she had found her calling. Neff began her career as a lab technician at MUSC, helping to run and analyze tests and samples ordered by health care providers.

As a lab tech, Neff worked in a space with large glass windows which allowed her to see across the floor and into a few hospital rooms. Since she was in close proximity to patient rooms she could hear and see nurses and physicians racing about the floor when emergencies arose. One day, a patient close to her lab coded. Though she could not see the patient, she saw the team rushing to respond. After witnessing the patient code and the nurses and physicians jump into action, Neff knew that nursing would become her calling.

Mary Neff “Nursing has afforded me a joyful and fulfilling lifestyle,” Neff said. “As a nurse, you get to be the voice of compassion and understanding for patients After graduation from nursing school, Neff traveled and their families. For some, you become a part of extensively and worked as a nurse in many different their family.” units – her favorites being the PACU and ICU – Neff is still in contact with a few of her patients but she always remained connected to the MUSC even years after they have left the hospital. One College of Nursing through its publications and patient was a young Marine involved in a car accigiving opportunities. dent. He was badly injured and was rushed to the “I got to the point where I could give back, so I MUSC Medical Center one evening while Neff was did,” shared Neff, “I would encourage others to do on duty. Fifteen years later their paths would cross the same – it doesn’t have to be a lot.” Neff began again nearly 650 miles from their first encounter giving to the College’s annual fund upon graduin the emergency room. While in Pennsylvania to ation, but in 2018 she decided she wanted to do attend a Pittsburgh Steelers game, Neff was able more. to reconnect with the Marine and his family. “You Neff contacted the College to share her demeet so many different people from all walks of life, sire to make a difference for future generations and some become lifelong friends.” of nurses through a bequest. After meeting with Neff’s career in nursing has allowed her to Linda Weglicki, PhD, RN, dean of the College of connect not only with patients and their families, but Nursing; Anahita Modaresi, director of developalso with her community. Through nursing, Neff has ment; and Sarah Schwartz, development associate, volunteered on medical teams for community races Neff made the decision to establish an endowed and American Red Cross events. She also has travscholarship in the College’s global health initiatives eled to several music festivals as a volunteer nurse. program.

An avid traveler, Neff felt her gift was a perfect fit as it achieved her philanthropic goal of providing financial assistance to students who share her love of adventure. Through the College’s global health initiative, students will be afforded the opportunity to travel on faculty-led trips to global research sites where they help provide care and services in areas where health care access is scarce.

“The College of Nursing is very thankful to donors like May Neff, one of our many outstanding alumni, who see the value in supporting our programs, such as our global health initiative,” Dean Weglicki said. “In addition to helping build healthy communities through our global partners, this type of support provides unique opportunities that our students might otherwise never have – in which they learn to provide care and services in very vulnerable populations and in some of the hardest places to live. The experiences, where students learn to authentically provide care in these difficult environments, will be carried with them through the rest of their nursing careers.”

Natalie Hahn in the Medical University’s Office of Gift Planning helped Neff navigate the planned giving process to ensure her gift was handled with care. Hahn explained that choosing to leave a gift in one’s estate plans to the College is a great way to make an impact and leave a legacy. A planned gift is non-binding and can be altered at any time.

“Mary’s bequest provides the perfect opportunity for her to fulfill both passions of supporting the College of Nursing and traveling the globe as it does not affect her current cash flow,” Hahn said. “She can make a gift now that will benefit the College for years to come.”

Neff’s motivation for giving back? Gratitude.

“I just have to say thank you,” she shared. “I would not have the life I have if it were not for my nursing education. All the places I have traveled and the people I have met, it can all be traced back to nursing.”

A convenient new way to raise funds for MUSC

by Melissa Varner

S

unday Tuk recently celebrated her birthday by giving back to MUSC. She created a fundraiser for the MUSC Foundation on Facebook and asked her friends to celebrate her birthday by making a donation.

“In lieu of birthday gifts, I asked my family and friends to donate to my MUSC Facebook Sunday Tuk Fundraiser,” said Sunday, who is the donor relations coordinator for MUSC’s development office. “They were so inspired and generous that I actually increased my fundraising goal several times.”

In all, Sunday’s friends and family raised $577!

Facebook doesn’t charge fees on donations to nonprofits, so 100 percent of any fundraiser for the MUSC Foundation goes directly to programs you care about at MUSC. It takes just a few minutes to start a Facebook fundraiser.

How to start a Facebook fundraiser for MUSC 1.

Log into Facebook, tap the menu and select “Fundraisers” to get started. You may have to scroll down or tap “see more” to find fundraisers. On your phone, tap the three lines on the bottom right to reach the menu. On a computer, the menu is to the left of your newsfeed.

2. Tap “Raise Money” and choose “Nonprofit” when asked who you’re raising money for.

3. Tap or search for MUSC Foundation.

4. Edit fundraiser info and tap create. Facebook will fill most of this out for you.

Change the title if you’d like to support a specific area at MUSC, like MUSC Children’s Health, Hollings Cancer Center, or one of our six colleges. Just change the default title from “[Your name]’s fundraiser for MUSC Foundation” to “[Your name]’s fundraiser for the College of Nursing” and we will direct your funds to the area you’d like to support.

TIP – Invite your friends! Facebook will only show your fundraiser to a few of your friends.

The more people you share your fundraiser with, the more successful it will be! From the fundraiser page, tap the “invite” button to let your friends know about your campaign.

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LEGACIES

Scholarship honors children, helps nontraditional dental students

by Allyson Crowell

W

hen Gale Cobb Clarida pulled away from her mother’s farm house in Chester on Sunday evenings, her son would run up to the top of the hill and yell to her: “Please tell the president of that college that you have a little boy who loves you.”

Clarida steered her car with hot tears running down her cheeks, reminding herself that each threehour trip back to Charleston took her a little closer to a better life for her family.

Clarida studied dental hygiene and then earned a Master of Health Administration before deciding to follow a childhood dream that seemed out of reach for a single mother in the early 1980s. When she started dental school at the MUSC James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine, she committed to providing her elementary school-aged daughter and toddler son with the upbringing she wanted for them, even if it meant that she spent weekdays living in an apartment on the rough side of town in another city.

Her kids, Heather and Nathan, passed their days on the farm where Clarida grew up, tending to livestock and living across the street from her brother’s family. When Clarida couldn’t make it home to them, her mother brought the children to her.

“In dental school I was in my element. It wasn’t easy, but we all helped each other. Our class was so close that I always feel like they’re part of me.”

“I wish I could’ve gotten a diploma for my mother,” she said. Her family joined Clarida on dinner cruises around Charleston Harbor with her classmates. Her children came to idolize the other students – even if her classmates did sometimes tip her son to pump the beer keg.

“In dental school I was in my element,” Clarida remembered. “It wasn’t easy, but we all helped each other. Our class was so close that I always feel like they’re part of me.”

They walked her home after late nights studying.

They celebrated her wedding the day after graduation in 1986, when she married a fellow dentist from Georgia whom she had met on a blind date.

And they comforted her during the agonizing despair of losing a child – twice.

Clarida retired two years ago from the practice she shared with her husband, Bill. She recently made a planned gift from her estate to provide a scholarship for future nontraditional students at the College of Dental Medicine. The Dr. Gale Evans Cobb Clarida Memorial Scholarship honors her Heather and Nathan, who both died of leukemia as adults.

Heather, her quiet and studious child, first became sick as a teenager. Heather completed chemotherapy and went on to college to pursue a teaching career, but the disease returned after her freshman year.

“She came home, and my mother had just died,” Clarida remembered. “I thought, my rock is gone. I have to do it by myself.”

Heather underwent four bone marrow transplants over the next several years before treatments stopped working. She died in 1999 at age 26.

Nathan, Clarida’s vivacious jokester, called from Texas one Friday with good news: He had been promoted in his medical sales profession, and he, his wife and their baby boy were moving home to Georgia.

Four days later he went to see a doctor for a persistent fever. When antibiotics didn’t help, Nathan wound up in the hospital.

“They did a blood test, and when he told me what his counts were, I knew what was wrong,” Clarida said.

Like his big sister, Nathan had leukemia. He died in 2014 at age 37.

“After Heather died, I left everything to him,” Clarida said. “Now I plan to leave some money to the University in honor of Heather and Nathan.

I want it to go to someone who needs help.”

“I love education, and I love learning, so I thought it would be good to give money back to the place where I got my education. I just felt like I belonged at the Medical University, and because my children were part of the experience with me, I thought this would be a good way to honor them.”

Clarida has served as her class representative since graduation, keeping everyone in touch over the years and throughout life’s triumphs and challenges. Stephanie Oberempt, director of development at the college, said classmates relate to each other almost as family.

“Our alumni forge such close relationships with one another and with the college,” Oberempt said.

“They also bring individual backgrounds and perspectives to their time here. We’re honored that Dr. Clarida has offered a helping hand to future students facing obstacles similar to her own, so that they too can become leaders in this profession.”

Clarida’s scholarship will give preference to single parents and other students with personal challenges.

“I love education, and I love learning, so I thought it would be good to give money back to the place where I got my education,” Clarida said. “I just felt like I belonged at the Medical University, and because my children were part of the experience with me, I thought this would be a good way to honor them.”

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Dental clinic gets new wheelchair- and stretcherfriendly room

by Helen Adams Reprinted with permission of the MUSC News Center

J

ack Ray gets emotional when he talks about receiving a phone call asking him and his son William to take part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new special needs area in the dental clinic at the Medical University of South Carolina.

“When we deal with handicapped kids, and we’re parents of handicapped kids, we’ve got to make the best of what we’ve got. And when MUSC – sorry,” he pauses, as tears well up.

On Friday, he and his son helped cut the ribbon to celebrate the opening of the James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine’s Delta Dental of South Carolina Accessible Treatment Area. The nonprofit insurance company Delta Dental of Missouri, which also does business as Delta Dental of South Carolina, calls improving oral health part of its mission. It gave the college a $100,000 grant to make the new treatment area possible.

Michelle Ziegler, a doctor of dental medicine, leads the Pamela Kaminski Center for Adults and Adolescents with Special Health Care Needs at MUSC. The center houses the newly-designed accessible treatment area at 29 Bee Street in Charleston.

“If you see the need and you’re a medical professional with an empathetic heart, you do everything you can,” she says. “The new treatment area is fully functional with the exception of a dental chair so we can accommodate patients who come in on stretchers or motorized wheelchairs. We can treat them right there without squeezing up against the dental chair, which is what we’ve been doing in the past.”

When she came to MUSC in 2012, the special care dental clinic had about a dozen patients, Ziegler says. By 2015 it was up to more than 100, and the number keeps rising. “Over 450 patients have been seen at MUSC since I arrived and more than 330 now call MUSC their dental home.

Andrew Stubbs, 26, is one of the newer patients.

Like William Ray, he has cerebral palsy and uses a power wheelchair to get around. His mother Susan says he used to go to Columbia for treatment.

“We’ve been here maybe the last three years. This is a whole lot better in terms of parking, wheelchair accessibility and a great staff.”

“We define special needs as anything from adolescents with autism to seniors with Alzheimer’s. Patients with traumatic brain injury who may be paralyzed or cerebral palsy who may have physical disabilities to intellectual disabilities, Down syndrome. Anything you can imagine that makes it a little challenging to receive care in a traditional dental office.”

-Michelle Ziegler,

Pamela Kaminski Center for Adults and Adolescents with Special Health Care Needs at MUSC.

Patients Andrew Stubbs and William Ray help cut the ribbon to open the James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine’s Delta Dental of South Carolina Accessible Treatment Area. Photo by Son Nguyen

“The new treatment area is fully functional with the exception of a dental chair so we can accommodate patients who come in on stretchers or motorized wheelchairs. We can treat them right there without squeezing up against the dental chair, which is what we’ve been doing in the past.”

The new wheelchair- and stretcher-friendly treatment area is a great next step, she says. Her son won’t have to be moved to a dental chair for treatment.

Dental Medicine Dean Sarandeep Huja says it’s rewarding for faculty members and students to see the special needs area grow as well. “I feel like I have a very meaningful day when I engage with special needs patients. It’s difficult to describe, but I believe I receive more than I give.”

Ziegler agrees. “When we think of diversity and inclusion, we don’t always think of this patient population. This is a group that’s very underserved.”

That’s gradually changing, thanks in part to organizations such as Delta Dental and the Duke Endowment, which are funding improvements at MUSC and supporting a statewide database of dentists who treat patients with special needs.

“We have more than half of the dentists in the state registered on this database. So a parent can find the perfect fit for their patient,” Ziegler says.

“If somebody needs general anesthesia or sedation or maybe they’re very cooperative, we have dentists throughout the state willing to see this patient population. Our hope is the more of our students we train, the more that the database will grow.

We also were fortunate enough to have the South Carolina licensing board help. When you renew your dental license, it asks if you’ve updated your information on sandssc.org.”

While the two patients at Friday’s ceremony have cerebral palsy, that’s just one of many conditions the MUSC special needs dental clinic works with, Ziegler says. “We define special needs as any-

thing from adolescents with autism to seniors with Alzheimer’s. Patients with traumatic brain injury who may be paralyzed or cerebral palsy who may have physical disabilities to intellectual disabilities, Down syndrome. Anything you can imagine that makes it a little challenging to receive care in a traditional dental office.”

Rob Goren, president and CEO of Delta Dental, was on hand for Friday’s ceremony. So was dentist Robert Butler, chairman of the board of Delta Dental of Missouri. Goren says Delta Dental gets a lot of requests for financial grants, but MUSC’s stood out. “This one certainly touched us because it meets a population that has challenges getting dental care.”

Jack Ray and his son William are grateful. William Ray has been an MUSC dental patient since he was 10. “They always took very good care of William. Showed a lot of love, even when we were in tight quarters. It’s so much better now.”

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CREATIVE GIVING

If you’ve made a planned gift to MUSC, let us hear from you!

(You’ll be glad you did.)

The CGA: A gift that provides you income When you make a gift to the MUSC Foundation in the form of a charitable gift annuity, you can earn an attractive and steady rate of income for the rest of your life or the life of a loved one.

If you have included the MUSC Foundation in your estate plans or named it as a beneficiary of a life insurance policy, retirement plan or trust, we want to know so that we can:

Among the benefits of a charitable gift annuity: • You want to maintain or increase your cash flow.

• You want the security of fixed, dependable payments for life.

• You want to save income taxes or capital gains taxes.

• You would like income that is partially tax-free.

• You are at least 65 years of age.

• • •

Best of all, you will achieve the satisfaction of knowing that you’ve made a meaningful difference in the lives of others, while creating a meaningful legacy of better health for generations to come.

•

Ensure that your gift will be used exactly how you envisioned Give you the proper thanks and recognition Invite you to special events for our “Legacy” donors Make sure that you are receiving the full financial benefits that come with making a planned gift

To let us know about a planned gift you’ve made to the MUSC Foundation or to have a confidential conversation about making one, please call the Office of Planned Giving at 843-792-9562 or visit muscgiving. org for more information.

For more information, please call the Office of Planned Giving at 843-792-9562 or visit muscgiving.org.

MUSC’s Planned Giving team: (l-r) Linda Cox, Natalie Coxe, Catherine Caroe and Haley Sulka.

OUT AND ABOUT Charleston Slam Bridge Tournament

Swing Fore Sight

Bridge players from all over the state gathered at the Country Club of Charleston on Jan. 28 for the annual Charleston Slam Bridge Tournament to raise more than $20,000 for the Charles and Ashley Truluck Fund in Pediatric Ophthalmology.

The Annual Swing Fore Sight Golf Tournament, held at the Cassique Course on Kiawah Island on Sept. 10, 2018, raised more than $80,000 in support of the MUSC Storm Eye Institute. Plans for a tournament in the spring of 2020 are in motion.

Belinda C. Barker Surgical Training Suite

Radiothon

J. Steve Barker, center, joined MUSC Storm Eye Institute residents on Dec. 14 for the grand opening of the Belinda C. Barker Surgical Training Suite. This new facility, which was funded by Barker, will allow residents to remain on the cutting edge of technological advances in ophthalmology and aid in the training and preparation of the next generation of ophthalmologists at MUSC.

Listeners tuned in to WEZL 103.5 and Y102.5 in December for the annual Cares for Kids Radiothon. Hosted by our friends at iHeartMedia, Radiothon was a fun and meaningful way to raise money for our new children’s hospital.

Past and present patients shared their heartwarming stories of healing, and some even got to take over the mic as guest DJs! Thank you to all our listeners, volunteers, and participants!

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LEGACIES

musc.edu/giving Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage

PAID

Charleston, S.C. Permit #254

Office of Development 268 Calhoun Street MSC 182 Charleston, SC 29425

L

egacies is published by MUSC’s Office of Development for benefactors and friends of the Medical University. For more information contact John Nash, director of communications, at (843)792-0687 or by email at nashj@musc.edu.

To learn how you can partner with us in our life-saving, life-changing mission, please visit musc.edu/giving.

Camden Scott Meyer Pediatric Lab

As part of November’s Giving Tuesday, Jackson Meyer, 11, sold his video games to make a donation to the Camden Scott Meyer Pediatric Lab, named in honor of his older brother, who passed away in 2002.

Located in the MUSC College of Health Professions, the lab supports pediatric research and rehabilitation services, occupational and physical therapy programs and researchers, and an annual camp called Camp Hand to Hands for children with hemiplegia.

Into the Heart of Africa

Heart & Vascular Advisory Board members (l-r) Natalia Castillo and Wendy C. H. Wellin, pictured here with guest Kerri Devine, recently hosted Into the Heart of Africa, an event that raised more than $101,000 for the Global Health for Cardiology Fund.

In Memory of Dr. J. Michael Kilby

The Medical University recently dedicated its infectious diseases clinic in memory of Dr. J. Michael Kilby, who passed away in 2015 at the age of 51. As chief of MUSC’s infectious diseases division, Dr. Kilby oversaw a program supporting care for more than 1,000 HIV-infected adults and children. MUSC is raising $1 million to establish an endowed chair in his name to continue the compassionate work for which he was known and loved. Pictured here are Dr. Kilby’s wife, Dr. Mia Amaya, and sons, (l-r), Andrew and Matthew. Those interested in supporting this chair may contact Nat Howe at 843-792-4280 or howen@musc.edu for more information.

Bulls Bay Golf Tournament

Thanks to a beautiful day of golf, a delicious dinner by Halls Chophouse, and evening entertainment by Darius Rucker and Edwin McCain, the 15th annual Bulls Bay Golf Tournament was a tremendous success, raising more than $650,000 for MUSC Children’s Health and the campaign for the new MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital. This brings the event’s 15-year total to more than $4.6 million!

Helen Caldwell Spell Rare Disease Lectureship

Dr. Nick Morrell, left, professor of cardiopulmonary medicine at the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, had the opportunity to meet Celia, Barbara and David Spell during his visit as guest lecturer at the Helen Caldwell Spell Rare Disease Lectureship in February. The Spells created the lectureship in memory of their daughter, Helen, in appreciation for the care provided to her by the MUSC Department of Medicine.

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