MAGNIFY | 2024 Alumni and Dean's DistinguishedService Awards Ceremony and Reception
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The 2024 Alumni and Dean's Distinguished Service Awards Ceremony and Reception was held on the evening of Thursday, October 17, in the heart of the SOMC campus. This event was the first of its kind on the VA property as the building 3 courtyard was transformed into a lovely evening soiree with seasonal florals, gourds, and cafe lights.
Seventeen individuals were honored with awards by Interim Dean Gerald Harmon, MD, with presenting remarks from Alumni Association President, Ann Marie Patterson Ravindran, MD ('09), past Distinguished Humanitarian Alumni Award recipient, Moeen Saleem, MD ('95), Senior Associate Dean, Caughman Taylor, MD ('83), and Director of Employee Development and Special Projects, Carla Harkness.
Click on the graphic above to play a highlight video from the evening.
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Dean's Award Recipients with Gerald Harmon, MD, Interim Dean
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Alumni Award Recipients with Holly Jefferson, Director of Alumni Engagement
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FOCUS | Bringing Hope Home: A Pharmacologist’s Role in His Wife’s Cancer Treatment
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October is nationally recognized as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, bringing attention to a disease that will affect more than 360,000 people this year alone—a statistic deeply familiar to Randolph “Randy” Johnson, PhD, whose wife of 44 years, Charlyn, was diagnosed in 2008.
Johnson grew up on the West Coast, spending his early years along the beaches of Southern California. He earned a BS in zoology and an MA in biology from California State University, Long Beach, initially setting his sights on a career as a physician or zoologist. However, his path shifted when he met Dr. Frank Schatzlein, an endocrinologist and master thesis advisor who introduced him to research in hormone action, second messengers, and protein phosphorylation.
"Dr. Schatzlein received a call from Dr. Bill Ingebretsen, faculty at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, who was looking for candidates interested in researching second messengers in Dr. Don Allen’s new pharmacology department at the newly established medical school in Columbia," Johnson recalls.
After going through the application process, he was accepted and made the move to South Carolina with his then-girlfriend, Charlyn, in 1978. In a surprising turn, his acceptance was rescinded just days before he was set to start; however, he was given an opportunity to work in the pharmacology lab alongside Dr. Steve Gross. After reapplying, he was accepted the following year with Gross's recommendation. Click here to read full story.
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BREAKTHROUGH | USC Planning SC’s First Hospital Specializing in Neurological Care
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The University of South Carolina is planning to develop a unique hospital that would house the Palmetto State’s first standalone comprehensive medical facility dedicated entirely to integrated care of patients with brain and nervous system illnesses.
USC’s highly specialized hospital would offer advanced neurological and neurosurgery treatments, as well as neurological rehabilitation for trauma, stroke, cancer and other conditions. The innovative hospital, concentrating solely on the care of diseases affecting the brain and the nervous system, would be the first of its kind in the Southeast.
The hospital would provide an opportunity to address the pressing health needs of South Carolinians, while leveraging the broad multidisciplinary clinical, academic and research portfolio from USC. The hospital would house fully equipped clinical research spaces and laboratories and provide additional clinical training sites for USC students studying medicine, physical and speech therapy, nursing, pharmacy, artificial intelligence, biomedical engineering, and other academic, medical and technical disciplines.
Click here to read full story.
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Michael Guyton-Nunley, MD ('10) and his husband, Rory, welcomed the arrival of their son, Clark Banks, on August 19, 2024 weighing 7lbs 13oz. Congratulations!
Jaya Ruffin, MD ('19) and her husband, Adam, welcomed the arrival of their daughter, Drew Marie on September 12, 2024 weighing 5lbs 9oz. Congratulations!
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Deadline to submit personal news is November 18.
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