As a four-year-old, Edwin “Eddie” Herd remembers sitting in front of his family’s television set, watching broadcasts that he ultimately carried with him through life. American Bandstand introduced him to his love of music, the Apollo moon landing ignited his curiosity for science, evangelist Billy Graham sermons helped guide his faith, and the 1968 Olympics awoke a passion in him to chase a dream.
Herd first attended the University South Carolina in 1979 where he ran collegiate track and joined a training team out of Santa Monica to help with his quest to qualify for the Olympics. After a semester break of training and sizing up the competition, he came back to South Carolina realizing his dream of becoming an Olympian wasn’t in the cards, but continued his love for running. He graduated in 1982 with a degree in chemical engineering and even worked in the field for four years before answering the calling to help people and enrolling in the MD program at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine.
Herd ran throughout medical school, using it as a type of therapy to get him through the rigorous academics.
“Everyday at 4 o’clock if my best friend and I weren’t in the hospital, we’d go for a run and complain about the workload for the first 10 minutes,” Herd says. “But then all of a sudden, the troubles start to fade away, and the last 20-30 minutes of the run was relaxing. It was a big boost to me during medical school to keep going.” Click here to continue reading.
