April 15, 2016
MEDICAL UNIVERSITY of SOUTH CAROLINA
Vol. 34, No. 31
To ‘change what’s possible’ at MUSC, say YES By Mikie Hayes hayesmi@musc.edu
T
hree unassuming words — “Changing What’s Possible” — lie at the heart of what MUSC believes and strives every day to accomplish. Yet the privilege of making such an important difference in the world is not simply reserved for clinicians, researchers or a few wealthy philanthropists — everyone at MUSC has an opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of patients, advances in science, even in the futures of tomorrow’s health care providers. How? Through the Yearly Employee Support Campaign. The YES campaign, which runs from April through June each year, is MUSC’s internal fundraising campaign that allows faculty and staff to make charitable contributions to support initiatives at MUSC. Since the YES Campaign’s humble beginnings 31 years ago in 1985, employees have donated well over $7 million to support the tripartite mission of the Medical University. Today, employees have a choice of 1,300 different funds in the MUSC Foundation for their donations. To underscore the growth and reach of the YES Campaign, in the year 2000 there were only 300 YES categories, compared to today’s 1,300, and in 2015, the campaign had a banner year, having raised $451,000. With that many individual centers, programs and projects from which to choose, employees can typically find the specific cause that fits their personal philanthropic vision and invest their hard–earned dollars in a project that has particular meaning to them or their loved ones. Funds to which employees can donate run the gamut from pet therapy to pastoral care, women’s scholar initiatives to diversity and inclusion, the C.A.R.E.S. Clinic (community, aid, relief, education and support) to sickle cell anemia research. There are scholarship, fellowship and lectureship funds available in all six colleges to invest in and ways to support the needs of
7
DIversITy awarDs Earl B. Higgins Awards presented to faculty and student achievers. LIKE US
photos by J. Ryne Danielson
Jim Fisher, Vice President of Development and Alumni Affairs, meets employee Tracy Pierce’s daughter, Carolina, at the YES kick off event April 5. 2016 YES Campaign Chairman Dr. Prabhakar Patel encourages employees to support a fund they are passionate about and hopes to exceed last year’s total raised. To make a gift to the YES Campaign, please fill out and mail in the campaign gift form that was included in the 2016 calendar mailing or visit musc. edu/yes to make your gift
all ages from the care of premature newborns to educational programs for adolescents and teens to community outreach services for the elderly. Over the years, YES campaign dollars have supported mobile health units, important building funds, much–needed scholarships, cutting–edge research and valuable community health and patient education programs. This is the type of personal commitment, said MUSC President David Cole, M.D., FACS, that makes MUSC so special. The official 2016 YES Campaign kickoff was celebrated on April 5. Vice President for Development and Alumni Affairs Jim Fisher recalled the year the campaign was first introduced, explaining that there were those who worried that state employees wouldn’t give their hard–earned dollars, while they were working 40 to 60 hours a week and paying for parking, to support the institution. Thirty-one years and $7 million–plus later, Fisher is proud that the campaign has not only thrived but continues to make its mark on both the institution, and on members of the community, like Shawn Jenkins, after whom the new Children’s Hospital is named. He said, “I can tell you, Dr. Cole will tell you, that when you talk to Shawn, one of the things that
See Campaign on page 3
8
OCIO ‘MakIng IT greaT’
2
DAISY Award
New communications series launched.
4
Board of Trustees update
5
Meet Ayaba
Medical University of South Carolina — FOLLOW US
@ Catalyst_MUSC