MUSCMedical LinksCharleston LinksArchivesMedical EducatorSpeakers BureauSeminars and EventsResearch StudiesResearch GrantsCatalyst PDF FileCommunity HappeningsCampus News

Return to Main Menu

Women bring balance, change to MUSC 

Fifth and sixth articles in a series of eight honoring women who changed the face, landscape, and direction of MUSC and the Medical Center.
 

Early interest led Jackson into pediatrics

by Heather Woolwine
Public Relations
Sherron Jackson, M.D., director of MUSC’s pediatric sickle cell clinic and associate professor, fell for science and the human body at 10 years old.

“I remembered being embarrassed that I didn’t know what the spleen was when the teacher began talking about it in class,” she said. “I believe it was then that I made the connection that the only way to understand the human body was to become a physician.”

And while most children’s aspirations for future careers change along with favorite toys or best friends, Jackson would remain convinced of her path. 

She completed a bachelor’s degree at Mercer University in Macon, Ga., and finished her medical degree at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta in 1981.

Pediatrician Dr. Sherron Jackson reviews a case with registered nurse Rebecca Dearth of clinical services.

Always interested in pediatrics, Jackson, the first black resident at MUSC, began her internship immediately following graduation and would never leave.

During her last year of residency, Jackson would garner the esteemed title of chief resident.

“During my residency, by chance I was assigned numerous sickle cell patients,” she said. “I became very involved in their care and when I decided to stay on as junior faculty in 1985, I became involved in Dr. Shashidhar Pai’s grant for screening sickle cell anemia in newborns. I didn’t really set out to become so involved with sickle cell patients, but the way things turned out, it seems it was meant to be.”

Surprised that South Carolina did not employ a statewide screening effort for sickle cell in newborns, especially with the increased prevalence of sickle cell across the state, Jackson joined Pai in identifying the first group of 30 babies diagnosed at birth with sickle cell anemia. 

And one year later, in 1986, Jackson and then- husband Carlton, would welcome their own newborn, Alex. “Some may have viewed taking the time to have a family at that point in my career as a professional risk,” Jackson said. “But many of us who went into medical school knew we wanted careers and families, so we planned as much as we could. Planning is so important, because it prepares you for the demanding training, extensive obligations, and long hours.

“I believe that having Alex influenced my career in a positive way,” she said. “After his birth, I was surprised by how much I didn’t know about children, despite being a pediatrician. I believe that says a lot for the experience of being a parent. It helped to keep me from believing that I was more experienced than I was.”

And it wouldn’t be the last time Alex would give Jackson a new perspective on her work as a physician.

In late July of 1987, Jackson and her then 9-month-old son’s car was hit by a drunk driver while they visited family in Augusta. Jackson suffered a fractured pelvis and a closed-head injury that would render her comatose for several weeks. Alex sustained a spinal cord injury resulting in permanent paralysis, rendering him a quadriplegic. 

“Alex’s injuries changed my life and career,” she said. “I was more able to understand what children with disabilities or debilitating diseases go through, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. I used to understand these patients’ lives in terms of doctor’s visits and exams, and now I am consistently amazed at their endurance, strength and the faith that their families maintain throughout their various treatments.”

After relearning to walk, Jackson came back to work in 1988 with a renewed sense of advocacy for families whose children suffer from disease or disability, as well as the unique experience of being both physician and patient at once. By the time her recovery was complete, Pai’s sickle cell research required the establishment of a full-fledged clinic. 

After some reorganization in 1991 and Jackson’s promotion to associate professor, the sickle cell program was firmly established under the guidance of the pediatric hematology and oncology division, which also  included Joseph Laver, M.D., and Miguel Abboud, M.D.

During the next 10 years, Jackson and Abboud would care for newborns diagnosed with sickle cell and eventually would expand the program to include all children suffering from the disease. “We now have about 400 children in the program,” Jackson said. “The most enjoyable aspect was meeting so many of them when they were born  and now some of them are 17 and 18 years old. It’s very similar to the benefit of private practice.”

A member of many professional and scientific societies and publisher of numerous studies and presentations, Jackson also enjoys community involvement as a member of the South Carolina Disability board, an active member of St. Matthew’s Baptist Church, a Boy Scout Troop 108 supporter, and a member of the Sickle Cell Advisory board and support group.

Jackson’s love of medicine and children, especially those afflicted with disabilities or diseases, would develop another, if unexpected, devotion during the course of her career.

“At first I saw teaching as a fringe benefit to practicing medicine,” she said. “I didn’t set out to teach and wasn’t even sure I’d be good at it. But I realized it was an opportunity for me to impart knowledge and experience in accordance with the way I’d want to be taught—less intimidation and more informal kinds of teaching.”

Jackson has been recognized by her students and colleagues numerous times during her 20-year career at MUSC, including five consecutive medical student teaching awards, two Golden Apple Teaching Awards, Hospital Teacher of the Year, Department of Family Medicine Teacher of the Year, and the Department of Pediatrics Medical Student Teaching Award in 2002.

Adamant that the most valuable learning goes on in wards and clinics, Jackson is sure that students remember those experiences the most vividly and strives to capitalize on her easy-going nature in order to make the hospital environment more learner-friendly.

The once-reluctant teacher now advocates for more diversity among her students. “It continues to be an extremely important topic,” Jackson said. “Since African-Americans have a disproportion-ate amount of chronic illness, disabilities, and debilitating conditions, it is becoming increasingly more important that these patients feel empowered to control their health. It’s an encourage-ment to receive care from those who have a similar or the same cultural background.”

Jackson mentioned that some cultures, like African Americans, still rely heavily on home remedies and are hesitant to trust the health care community. This is not necessarily because of historically misguided research experiments, but simply because home remedies are what they know and were raised on.

“That’s why it’s so important to begin educating our children at an early age by introducing them to health care and its professions,” she said. “And while I believe that the recruitment of college-age students is also important, by that time, it’s almost too late if the inherent interest isn’t there.

“Dr. (James B.) Edwards was very instrumental in moving the university forward in regards to diversity,” she said. “And Dr. (Ray) Greenberg has demonstrated his concern as well. The students who complete the various programs here are our ambassadors to recruit more diverse applicants.”
 

Opportunity, persistence became Haight's ‘plan’

by Heather Woolwine
Public Relations
Many would say the path to success must be navigated with foresight and directed by a carefully organized plan. 

Barbara Haight’s career would be an exception.

“I hate to admit that I didn’t have a plan,” said Haight, Dr.PH, R.N. “but I had no way of knowing that I’d become Dr. Haight or associate dean of research for MUSC’s College of Nursing. I bandaged my dolls and wore nursing caps at Halloween, but advanced degrees were purely an advantage of great opportunities.”

Beginning her career when women worked as nurses or teachers, Haight decided nursing was a more comfortable fit. She received her nursing degree from St. Joseph College in West Hartford, Conn. in 1959.

Twenty years, a husband in the Army, and five children later, she completed her master’s degree in nursing, also an unforeseen opportunity. “I was working as a school nurse. Boy, did my kids love it when I came to class to discuss reproductive education,” she laughed. “Some of the other school nurses and myself were in need of a raise and were told to wait a year. Well, we waited, and when things still didn’t go through, I went back to graduate school. They were giving more money out in stipends than we made as nurses.”

Once arriving at the University of Kansas, Haight was “imbued with the spirit of academia” and excelled in her coursework. “My husband and children were very supportive during that time,” Haight said. “We did our homework together. I think they felt like they had a hand in it; my son re-taught me algebra so I could take the GRE, and I was blessed to have a husband who didn’t feel threatened by my interest in education.

“Having a large family gave me excellent training for my experiences as an administrator. There’s a real team approach to it, and I figured that if I could keep them in order, I could keep anything in order.” 

It was during her work in graduate school that Haight was captured by the concept of life review, which defined her career and its direction from that point on. 

“There were several reasons to pursue life review and gerontology,” she said. “It just made so much sense. There was only one gerontological nursing textbook at the time. I thought about it not just from a point of interest but also economically speaking, this field would grow; I  encourage my students to think of their careers in an economic sense as well. Besides, there are no patients more grateful than older folks.”

Life review is about listening to older patients as they relate the stories of their lives and then reframe them by analyzing choices and decisions made throughout that lifetime. The process serves to reintegrate events that make a person unhappy or upset into a more acceptable picture.

“It’s listening to older adults and paying attention to what they have to say,” Haight said. “There is so much to learn about them, and the more we learn, the more stereotypes we’re able to avoid. I recently turned 65, and a physician referred to me as elderly. I certainly don’t see myself that way, so I didn’t go back to see her.”

Haight’s work in life review would span decades and garner another degree from USC in 1986, a doctorate in health education and counseling. From 1980 to 1985, Haight held positions with USC including assistant professor, director of the department of gerontological nursing, and co-director of the clinical nursing expansion project for the university’s graduate program. When her husband, Barrett, completed his service as a military attorney, he began work in development for The Citadel Foundation in Charleston, and Haight found a position as an associate professor and level III chairperson at MUSC. 

“The atmosphere at MUSC was very supportive,” she said. “I haven’t noticed some of the negative female stereotypes. Most if not all the women I’ve worked with have always been supportive of me.”

Haight also mentioned several men that she’d had the pleasure of working with during her time at MUSC, especially David Bachman, M.D.

A quote from Calvin Coolidge sits atop Haight’s bookcase stating, “…Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”  She believes these traits to be the most influential in terms of success.

“Persistence is not just about trying to get something accomplished,” Haight said. “It is also about handling rejection and learning how to take it. You must have a thick skin. I remember sending out a journal article 11 times before it was published on the 12th try. It has since been reprinted in five different places. Persistence pays off if you do your homework and pay attention to what you are doing.”

Indeed, Haight’s own persistence resulted in the printing of more than 170 publications, including four books based on life review and research pertaining to older adults. She  participated in 19 funded studies and received approval for 15 more. Haight served on numerous review and editorial boards throughout her career and her consultative and fellowship activities are well known throughout the country and international community, including Japan and Ireland. Her committee, professional memberships and activities, and community service are much too many and detailed to list.

“She is one of the very few people I have met in my career who’s able to combine a genuine, empathetic concern for patients and their families with a successful research career,” Bachman said. “The work she’s done on life review in older patients with depression or dementia is characteristic of that approach… (Life review) is a very intimate, one-on-one type intervention, yet at the same time, Barbara was able to apply a rigorous scientific approach to investigating the utility of life review. It’s her ability to combine the most humane principles of nursing care with scientific integrity that makes her truly unique.”

“I wouldn’t have been able to keep up with all of it without the help of (administrative assistant) Kathy Tanner,” Haight said. “We worked together for 15 years, and I always thought of us as partners, although I received all the glory. She is one of the brightest women I’ve ever met. I’m lucky that she always knew exactly what was in my head.”

As Haight ascended the professional ladder, she held positions in the College of Nursing that included tenured professor, program director of gerontological nursing specialty area, associate dean for research and practice, associate director and then professor emeritus in her last year before retirement, 2002. She was recognized with outstanding teaching awards, research awards, fellowships, and the prestigious MUSC Distinguished Service Award in 2003. 

“Dr. Haight is clearly an outstanding teacher,” said Barbara Edlund, Ph.D., R.N. “Her teaching evaluations have been remarkable over the years, and her love for gerontology is contagious. Many a student has elected to pursue gerontology because of Dr. Haight.”

Despite becoming officially retired in 2003, Haight will maintain ongoing research and writing for another year or so before leaving campus. But her eventual departure doesn’t mean Haight wouldn’t like to see a few more changes occur in the near future.

“We need to continue to grow the nursing research base,” Haight said. “In order to do that, we may need to re-evaluate nursing education and how much time we require students to be side by side with their instructors during those eight hour days. Nurses already have and will continue to bring a needed perspective in patient research and we all benefit from multidisciplinary cooperation. As nursing research becomes more widely respected and recognized, we need to continue to focus not only on our patients’ care, but also on nursing as a profession, including the business and administrative aspects of nursing.”

Haight’s husband also retired, and the two look forward to spending time with their seven grandchildren and their children, Lt. Col. Heidi Graham, currently serving in South Korea; Lt. Col. Tim Haight, a reservist on duty in Kuwait; Daniel Haight, vice president for a Charlotte paper company; Kelly Leech, formerly an Army R.N. and mother of three; and Mike Graham, presently starting his own company.

“I know my husband’s elated because after 20 years or so, I finally have time to cook again,” Haight said. 

“It is impossible to reflect upon the outstanding qualities in Dr. Haight without mentioning what a wonderful human being she is,” said Jean D’Meza Leuner, Ph.D., R.N. “She is generous with her time, always listens, is inclusive, non-judgmental, and supportive in all that she does with anyone and everyone. Her dedication to the university and the College of Nursing is extraordinary.”

Women’s History Month Celebration Calendar

March 3 - 31
Women Inspiring Hope and Possibility- Celebrating the Creative Spirit
Harper Student Center/Courtenay Gallery. 45 Courtenay St., 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday;  and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday. Featuring a wide variety of work by Lowcountry women artists.

March 19
Violin Portraits by the Class of Lee Chin Siow 
St. Luke’s Chapel, 8 p.m. Desserts provided by Saffron.

March 23
Women’s Resource Fair 
10 a.m. to 2 p.m., 171 Ashley Ave., MUSC Horseshoe and Portico. Featuring businesses, community organizations and services for women. Music by Fire and Ice. Lunch will be for sale by the following female-owned businesses: Bodacious Bagels, Crepe Stand, Doe’s Pita, Gullah Cuisine, Martha Lou's Kitchen, One of a Kind Smokehouse, Savory Market, and Uptown Oriental Cafe.

March 24
Panel Presentation: Celebrating MUSC Women Making A Difference 
12 p.m., 173 Ashley Ave., Room 100, Basic Science Building Auditorium. Boxed lunches free to first 35 students with valid ID, additional lunches for sale to the audience

March 25
Panel Presentation: Looking Back, Looking Forward
5 p.m., 167 Ashley Ave., Storm Eye Institute Auditorium. Featuring Inez Tenenbaum, Superintendent of Education for South Carolina.

All events are free. 
Cosponsored by MUSC and the Center for Women. 
For more information, call the Office of Diversity at 792-2146.
Visit  http://www.musc.edu/diversity/womenshistorymonth.pdf.
 
 
 
 
 

Friday, March 19, 2004
Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.