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MD degree a lifelong dream for retired telecommunications engineer by Cindy Abole Public Relations On May 30, George Halstead will celebrate his 57th birthday.   On Saturday, he will formally give away his daughter, Kristen, in a family wedding ceremony.   Dr. George Halstead  But even before that, Halstead will receive his medical degree along with 740 graduates today.   For Halstead, it is part of a lifelong dream and the end of a chapter in a long journey.   “It’s exciting,” said Halstead, who will be host to his son, four younger siblings, their families and friends. He even remarked how his wife of 35 years, Margie, has never seen him more relaxed and calm.    The James Island native is among the College of Medicine’s more mature graduates to pass through in years. Like many of his peers, his desire for a role focused on healing and giving back came after a previous career and personal discovery.   A retired telecommunications engineer, Halstead attended Clemson University after serving in the U.S. Air Force and earned his bachelor’s in electrical engineering in 1967. For the next 25 years, he traveled the country and around the world working with Bell Telephone Labs and Lucent Technologies and earned his master’s in engineering along the way. But Halstead was never truly satisfied.   “I often found myself discussing the idea of becoming a doctor and attending medical school with Margie,” Halstead said. But obligations with family and other priorities always took center stage.      It wasn’t until he attended his youngest brother William's graduation from MUSC in 1995 that made him seriously consider it. During the ceremony, he met two medical graduates, ages 48 and 51. Both served as real-life testaments to an unrealized dream.   “I knew it would be a harsh transition—returning to school at age 52— particularly studying a medical curriculum, “ Halstead said. But perseverance compelled him towards his plans.   Within five years, he was accepted to MUSC and well on his way to becoming a doctor.   But this period of his life would not be achieved without struggle. He worked through two intense years of basic science studies. He learned to handle and steer past several family issues as he prepared for Step 1 of the National Medical Boards Exam. Throughout each of his conflicts, he kept his focus and countered the difficulties with hard work and determination.   Of his medical school highlights, Halstead is grateful to the kind faculty, research and clinical preceptors and patient staff at the College of Medicine’s Deans Office. He’s especially proud to have assisted in the birth of both of his granddaughters (the second, Chelsea, was born in 2002 at MUSC while he was a medical student).      When the time came to select medical specialty, Halstead chose family medicine.   “I know myself and my personality,” he said. “There’s nothing’s more exciting than working with kids, geriatric patients, adults, and caring for the whole person. I also like challenges, I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t.”         Ideally, Halstead would like to practice rural medicine working in a small town practice. Before medical school, he and Margie owned a small hobby farm in rural Illinois and felt comfortable living in the country.   “I realize it’s hard to attract physicians to practice in small towns,” Halstead said, knowing the language and issues of people living within a farming community.  “I thought to myself, here’s a place where I can easily fit in.”   Following the week’s celebrations, Halstead and his wife will be pulling up stakes and relocating to Johnson City, Tenn., where he will begin a family practice residency at East Tennessee State University. As a Health Resources and Service Administration’s National Health Service Corps (NHSC) scholarship recipient, he will follow-up his residency by committing to work in an approved-NHSC clinical practice site. Friday, May 20, 2005 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.