by Kelly Field, Public Relations

When most people imagine apocalypse they imagine nuclear holocaust, Martian attack, or at least the currently popular asteroid.

When Jack Foust, M.D., newly hired assistant professor of psychiatry, envisions “the end,” he envisions something far less tangible and far more insidious: the proliferation of Managed Care Organizations (MCO).

“They are, for me, the emotional end,” said a grim Foust in an interview last week, “They’ve converted medicine from a professional, personal service, to a K mart commodity.”

According to Foust, it was the MCOs, the medical equivalent of the superstore, that first prompted his move from Baltimore’s Shepherd-Pratt Health System to Charleston’s MUSC last July.

“Simply put, I came here to get away from the MCOs,” he explained, adding that the warmer weather and the opportunity to work in an educational environment provided additional incentive.

“Shepherd-Pratt had been less academic than I had expected, and I really wanted to work in a more academic atmosphere.”

But while disillusioned with MCOs, Foust had nothing but praise for MUSC and his new colleagues, to whom he extended his gratitude. “I’m very grateful to James Ballenger (M.D.), Stephen McCloud Byrant (M.D.), Susan Hardesty (M.D.), and Joan Herbert (IOP administrator), for giving me a chance in spite of the fact that I hadn’t had much experience in research,” said Foust, who assists in the recruiting, monitoring and care of schizophrenic and bipolar subjects in drug tests. “It’s been a very satisfying environment to work in.”

A 1984 Vanderbilt M.D. who has worked in locations as diverse as Maryland, California and Puerto Rico, Foust brings to MUSC experience in the care and treatment of the chronically mentally ill. While he currently describes himself as “a sort of flunky and hanger on with the CNP (Clinical Neuropharmacology Program),” he hopes to become “more involved as time goes on.”

“This experience has been the best of my entire career,” said a contented Foust, “I have never before had the opportunity to participate in an ongoing research project.”

While he admits to having little recollection of his hobbies (“I don’t do them often enough to remember,” he joked), Foust said he spends his limited free time computer programming, bicycling, and fishing on Folly Beach pier. He also enjoys spending time with his 8-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son, and recently acquired a guinea pig for the eldest. He continues to search for a second guinea pig, who his son has already named “Seaki.”

“I’m still seeking ‘Seaki,’” he joked. “I just need to get the right combination of availability and gender.” As if explaining the logistics to his children, he added, “It has to be a female because if you put two males together they fight, and if you put a male and female together you get baby guinea pigs....which we don’t want. I’m not ready to start breeding guinea pigs yet.”

And in spite of his mistrust of MCOs, Foust continues to encourage his children to pursue medical careers. “I just warn them that they may go through a difficult time,” he said.