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MAGNIFY | Alumnus Recalls How Military Service Led to a Career in Medicine
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Robert ‘Bob’ Crane was a member of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Columbia's inaugural class, which graduated in 1981. Crane had never entertained the idea of becoming a doctor, at least not until after he spent time in Vietnam working alongside two flight surgeons.
“I dropped out of college after two years and enlisted in the Army to attend operating room technician school,” Crane recalls. “I had to go through basic combat medic/hospital corpsman school as a prerequisite.”
After his training, Crane volunteered to serve in Vietnam. He ran a clinic at Soc Trang Army Airfield, where he and two flight surgeons provided care to the pilots and troops. He also flew as a medic with Dustoff, the Army’s helicopter ambulance, used for emergency patient evacuation of casualties from a combat zone.
Working with the flight surgeons inspired Crane to think that medicine would be a good career for him. It was during this time that the University of South Carolina School of Medicine was being formed with assistance from the Veteran’s Administration and veterans were being encouraged to apply. Crane applied and was accepted into the inaugural class.
Crane remembers that several members of that first class were Vietnam veterans like himself – two Navy pilots and an Air Force pilot, as well as the captain of a Navy destroyer.
“We were several years older and more experienced than our non-vet classmates, who we referred to as the ‘whiz kids.’” he says.
May 2021 will mark the 40th anniversary of when Crane and his classmates made history by becoming the first students to graduate from the UofSC School of Medicine.
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Bob Crane (back row, fifth from right) was one of the first students to attend the School of Medicine Columbia. He and 23 classmates began classes in the fall of 1977.
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FOCUS | A Page from the Alumni Office's Gratitude Journal
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There is no question that 2020 has been a doozy! This virus is unrelenting and everything as we once knew it is now different. From the way we do business to how we interact with people, this year has been anything but normal.
Despite the challenges we have all faced, many of us are redirecting our minds and hearts to a place of gratitude, because after all, there are still many reasons to be grateful. As we prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday, the Alumni Office staff has reflected on three important things for which we are grateful for during these uncertain times.
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A DEDICATED ALUMNI COMMUNITY THAT TRANSFORMS HEALTH CARE
We are grateful for our 4,000+ health care professionals, scientists, medical education teachers and leaders that we get to claim as UofSC SOMC alumni. Even though the pandemic has made it seem as if the world has hit the pause button, our alumni are forging ahead in an effort to transform the health care system and their communities. Many of our alumni also continue to give of their time, knowledge, and resources to better those following in their footsteps. It's no secret, we have the best alumni in the country!
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A DIVERSE AND INCLUSIVE BOARD THAT ACCURATELY REPRESENTS OUR ALUMNI
We are grateful for the amazing group of men and women who make up our Alumni Association Board. With the help of leadership from Past-President David Amrol, MD ('98) and current President Steve Corso, MD ('88), the board has made great strides in diversity and inclusion, now having representation opportunities for all five graduate programs in both At-Large and Student Alumni Council (SAC) members. Additionally, biomedical sciences alumna Sloka Iyengar, PhD ('10) was recently named Secretary, making her the first graduate program alumni to be voted into an officer position.
This organization continues to help the Alumni Office with coordinating innovative alumni outreach efforts and collaborative programming opportunities that help to make an impact on our current students and the school.
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A NEW WAY TO CONNECT, ENGAGE AND MEET THE NEEDS OF OUR ALUMNI
We are grateful for the opportunity to elevate our digital engagement efforts with our alumni community through the GarnetMed Gateway.
These are both exciting and uneasy times for Alumni Relations as we go through a tremendous transformation in the way we approach, engage, and stay connected to our alumni. While the future and long-term impact of the pandemic is still unknown, we can almost guarantee that an increase in digital engagement is necessary and event strategies will need to be reshaped.
Through this platform, registered alumni users can easily update contact information, connect with other alumni and students directly, register and/or buy tickets for alumni events, post and view peer-added job openings, read alumni news and social media updates, view and download images from photo galleries, locate alumni by region, graduation year, etc. and so much more! We will need all of our alumni to join together, however, in order to take advantage of its many features and benefits.
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NOTES | From the Senior Director of Development
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Dear School of Medicine Alumni,
As we move into the holiday season, I personally find it so important to focus on all those things for which I should be grateful, especially as we come to the end of a year that has been anything but normal. I am extremely grateful, as always, for my family, friends and health. It would be remiss of me, however, not to recognize the magnitude of what we have all been going through for the past nine months due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. While there appears to be an end in sight with new vaccines on the horizon, the virus, at present, rages on, with the rates of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths continuing to rise at a frightening pace. It has been a difficult year to say the least.
This brings me to what I am most grateful for today. I am eternally grateful for medicine and science, and for all of you who have chosen to pursue a career path in the health sciences. Our School of Medicine alumni family encompasses an ever-expanding network of more than 4,000 health care professionals, scientists, medical education teachers and leaders, who are transforming, for the better, the way health care is delivered in our country and around the world. Whether it’s ground-breaking research, improving patient care, advancing a new program or initiative in your field, or serving as faculty and teaching the next generation of health care professionals, each of you are putting your indelible mark on the world in a way that is making a transformative difference.
Some of you currently are on the front lines of this pandemic caring for patients that are extremely sick, while others of you may have helped develop new therapies currently being used to treat COVID-19 patients. Others of you may be working for companies that are leading the way in advancing testing and new therapies to help us combat the virus. I want to thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart for your sacrifices, diligence, tenacity and dedication to caring and helping others in a time of tremendous and acute need.
Thank you again for all that each of you do every day to save lives. On behalf of the School of Medicine’s Office of Development and Alumni Relations, I wish you and your families a blessed holiday season filled with love, gratitude, good health and great anticipation of a better, brighter 2021.
Warmest regards,
Kim Riggi
Senior Director of Development and Alumni Relations
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DISCOVER | Opportunities for Engagement
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The custom SOM Watercolor Print of campus landmark Building 1 is back and available for purchase for a limited time only.
The artist has worked with the Alumni Office to offer a special bulk discount to our alumni for this holiday season. All orders of the 8”x10” print will receive a $5 refund (per print) if 50+ prints are ordered and placed by the December 4th deadline.
Shipping costs not included.
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George Helmrich, MD ('90) recently was named Chief Medical Officer at Grand Strand Health, after serving as CMO at HCA Healthcare's Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center in Panama City Beach, Fla.
Paige Stiles, the alumni engagement and marketing manager, welcomed a healthy baby girl on Monday, October 26, 2020, at 3:40 pm. Addison "Addi" Quinn Stiles was 7lbs 13oz, 20 inches long. Big sister Piper is over the moon with her new little sister! Paige will be out of the office on maternity leave until late December.
Please contact Holly Jefferson by December 18th if you have any
exciting news that you'd like to share!
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