A President's Perspective – November/December 2021

Dear MUSC family,

We’ve arrived at Thanksgiving and the beginning of the holiday season, and like many of you, family, service and community are at the forefront of my thoughts. And I may or may not be thinking a lot about turkey, dressing, casseroles, pies and the giant T-Rex lawn decoration I asked Santa to bring me … but, I digress.

In all seriousness, please make thoughtful, smart decisions and be mindful that maintaining COVID-19 precautions during the upcoming holidays, when and where appropriate, will help us all to have a safer winter and mitigate another surge of the virus. While the past year and a half hasn’t been easy, we truly have so much to be thankful for as an organization and as individuals.

Vaccines, the number one tool in our box for fighting this virus, are now available to everyone over the age of 5. This development is the next step in our march forward to move beyond COVID-19. As more individuals become vaccinated, it lessens the impact of each viral wave on our communities, front-line care providers, educators and businesses.

As always, thank you for doing your part to stop the spread of COVID-19 and encouraging the people in your life to do the same. Please accept my sincerest wishes for a restful Thanksgiving and peaceful 2021 winter holiday season.

Yours in service,

David J. Cole, M.D., FACS
MUSC President

Innovation in Action

“These are exciting times for MUSC. It’s another first,” said U. Joseph Schoepf, M.D., director of the Division of Cardiovascular Imaging and assistant dean for clinical research in the College of Medicine at MUSC. As the writer of this piece notes, “This isn’t simply an update to existing technology, according to Siemens Healthineers. It’s a new way of detecting the photons that make up X-rays.

Simply put, our value-based partnership with Siemens Healthineers is all about thinking differently and more collaboratively, leveraging our respective expertise to transform health care technology, with the ultimate outcomes being new and improved standards of care, health and wellness.

Take a few minutes to read about this cutting-edge photon-counting CT scanner that received FDA-approval and is poised to change care delivery in the years to come.

Cut to the Chase

I’ve got two blog posts that I’m working on at the moment; one addresses the idea of wellness (or, is it happiness?) in the workplace, and the other is slated to ring in the new year. Stay tuned over the next couple of weeks for those new posts. If you are interested in suggesting a topic for possible inclusion in a future blog, please email me at president-com@musc.edu.

Giving with Purpose

The countdown to Giving Tuesday is on! Giving Tuesday, often described as a global day of giving or a global generosity movement, is held each year on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving. It is also an opportunity for us to come together to make a significant collective impact on MUSC.

MUSC will observe Giving Tuesday with a 24-hour virtual day of giving, on Tuesday, Nov. 30. Last Giving Tuesday, MUSC employees and friends helped to raise a record $569,000 in support of our mission. The money raised supported students in all six MUSC colleges, advanced research across the enterprise and empowered programs and projects – many employee-initiated – that help patients and families.

I hope you will find personal and meaningful ways to participate in Giving Tuesday this year. Giving is just one way you can show your support for MUSC. Explore all the ways you can get involved at giving.musc.edu/Tuesday.

From Kathy

I was invited to visit Mt. Lebanon Elementary School in Anderson, South Carolina, on Nov. 12, to kick off a fundraiser for the school’s week of giving (Nov.15-19). This wasn’t my first time there; about two and half years ago, we held a fundraiser with the school for the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital. The school’s guidance counselor, Annie Mitchell, had direct knowledge of the new hospital’s construction and wanted her students to help during their annual week of giving. They collected bubbles, Play-Doh and kinetic sand to fill all the playrooms in the hospital. It was a huge success, and the children were so excited to be part of something bigger than themselves. The COVID pandemic hit soon after the collection, so I was never able to go back and share with them pictures of the new hospital, once it was open, or talk to them about the impact they had made.

This year, Ms. Mitchell and I decided to do a similar fundraiser, this time collecting toys and books for the Happy Wheels cart for the patients staying in our hospital. We visited all 24 classrooms in the school and talked about what was needed to stock the cart. The kids in every classroom were so enthusiastic! They loved hearing about the new hospital and seeing pictures, and they asked tons of questions. I was proud to represent MUSC that day – and every day! I’m also happy to report that the children collected 17 boxes with hundreds of toys and books in just one week. According to Ms. Mitchell, Mattison Braswell, fifth grade student said, "I think it’s important for kids to give to other kids that need things to make them feel better while they’re in the hospital."

The results of the toy and book drive remind us that if students are allowed the opportunity to show empathy towards children their own age who are going through a difficult time, they will be fierce in their attempt to show others they are loved and cared for. What a powerful reminder for us all of the satisfaction that comes from helping others.

#ICYMI

MUSC Hollings Cancer Center to launch new state-of-the-art mobile health unit

The upgraded machine is a game-changer, said Tonya Perkins, R.N., a Hollings nurse practitioner who also will help to staff the new mobile unit. Perkins said 3D imaging is especially important for women at high risk of breast cancer and those women who have dense breast tissue, which can make detecting breast cancer early on more difficult. Healthy Me–Healthy SC provides funding for operations, which comes from MUSC’s Health Innovation dollars from the South Carolina General Assembly. The new mobile health unit was purchased for nearly $1 million by MUSC, MUSC Health and Hollings Cancer Center.

Historic visit: First lady Jill Biden, Ed.D., promotes health equity and breast cancer awareness during a visit to MUSC Hollings Cancer Center.

SCTR DEI retreat: At SCTR’s recent retreat, NIMHD director and South Carolina scientists discussed the way forward for health disparities research.

Chest wall injury: The MUSC Health Chest Wall Injury Center is one of only 10 centers recognized internationally as a Collaborative Center of the Chest Wall Injury Society.

Treating Parkinson's disease: Inhibiting a specific protein, Bach1, slowed the deterioration of brain cells in preclinical models of Parkinson's disease.

COVID in photos: Former photojournalist Alan Hawes changed professions to nursing because he wanted to become more of an active participant in making the world a better place.

Angel Tree: Lighting of the Angel Tree symbolizes the start of the holiday season at MUSC. This year’s ceremony included little tree lighters who couldn’t wait.