A Conversation with Dr. Jerry Youkey, Dean of the USC School of Medicine Greenville

USC School of Medicine Greenville
Q&A With Dean Jerry Youkey, MD
March 4, 2013

EDITOR’S NOTE: The University of South Carolina (USC) School of Medicine Greenville welcomed its charter class of medical students in fall 2012. This isthe state’s third medical school, joining the USC School of MedicineColumbia and the MUSC College of Medicine in Charleston.

LowcountryBizSC: The USC School of Medicine Greenville is the state’s newest medical school, but it has an old soul.

Dean Youkey: While we’re officially new, we’re reallythe result of a dream that began back in the 1960s when leaders of theGreenville Hospital System (GHS) and the University of South Carolinabegan a conversation that started with What if? Now, half a centurylater, we have a new medical school that Governor Nikki Haley recentlycalled a gift to the Upstate and the people of South Carolina.

What’s also interesting about our medical school is that our twopartners, USC and GHS, the state’s largest university and the largesthealth system respectively, bring tremendous experience to the table.USC has had a medical school in Columbia for more than 30 years. GHSstarted a medical residency program in 1922, has been teaching USC third and fourth year medical students since 1991, and has a full clinicalfaculty. So while we’re a newly accredited four-year medical school,we’ve been at this a long time.

LowcountryBizSC: Is it unusual to have a health system as a partner in a medical school?

Dean Youkey: Not really. In Columbia, Palmetto Healthis a clinical partner of the USC School of Medicine and MUSC has its own academic health system. What’s unique about the USC School of MedicineGreenville is that GHS elected to fund the startup of the medicalschool. This was done for two very strategic reasons. First, we’refacing a tremendous physician shortage in our nation. GHS is the state’s largest health system and needs a source of physicians to meet theUpstate’s health care needs. Having the medical school on the campus ofGreenville Memorial Hospital gives GHS the opportunity to grow its own physicians.

Second, we all know our current system of health care isn’t working. If we’re going to improve access, quality and safety, we have to changethe way we practice medicine and that begins with basic education. Thevision and the goal of the USC School of Medicine are to preparephysicians capable of leading and practicing medicine in new andinnovative ways.

LowcountryBizSC: What are you doing differently from other medical schools?

Dean Youkey: It’s a pretty long list, but here arethree significant ways we’re different. One, our curriculum is different in that we take a team-based approach to teaching. Instead of asingle faculty member lecturing to students, a team of faculty membersfrom different disciplines teach together in a more discussion-basedformat. We link basic science to clinical science—heart disease forexample—so students get the sometimes abstract concepts they’relearning.

Two, medical students typically don’t come into significant contactwith patients until their third year of medical school. Our studentshave patient contact from day one when they begin a six-week course tobecome certified Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), a requirement ofour medical school. During this time, they work as part of a health care team alongside EMS professionals, they see where their patients comefrom and develop a connection with our community, and they get a solidfoundation of basic medical care that will serve them well the rest ofmedical school and their careers.

Three, when our students come to campus, we provide them with a laptopand an iPad, the new tools of medicine. We live in a wired world, andteaching our medical students how to use information technology toprovide the best patient care possible is critical.

I know I said I’d mention three things that set us apart, but I wouldbe remiss if I didn’t recognize my faculty and administration. Thechallenge of developing and delivering a new curriculum is a major tourde force! Our people have embraced the dream of our medical school andrun with it.

LowcountryBizSC: You’re almost through the first year of the first class of medical students. What jumps out of you?

Dean Youkey: Medical school is hard! (Chuckles) Ourfirst class of students doesn’t benefit from the perspective of olderclassmates to guide them through the rigors of the program, so for themthis year has been a maturation process. Realize, these are all topstudents and they’ve been surprised at how grueling medical school is.Fortunately, they are very supportive of one another and have excellentmorale. The Greenville community has been very supportive as well. It’sgreat to see.

LowcountryBizSC: Next week the Governor’s School ofScience & Mathematics will present the USC School of MedicineGreenville with its prestigious Townes Award given annually to anindividual or institution that has raised the quality of science,mathematics, and technology innovation in South Carolina. What is yourresponse?

Dean Youkey: Clearly, it’s an honor and humbling whenyou look at previous recipients, people like former Governor CarrollCampbell, Former Senator Ernest Hollings, Roger Milliken, Charles W.Coker, Charles F. Bolden, Jr., Darla Moore, Ed Sellers, these are SouthCarolina’s visionaries, people who dared to dream and have played a role in making our state better for all.

From our standpoint—and I speak for the Greenville Hospital System, the University of South Carolina and all of the stakeholders in our medical school—the award recognizes a half century of people who dared to dream of a medical school in the Upstate and were relentless in seeing thedream to fruition. The Governor’s School, by presenting us with theTownes Award, recognizes the major impact our medical school will haveon the Upstate, on South Carolina and the nation.

LowcountryBizSC: In closing, any big surprises this year?

Dean Youkey: I have been amazed at the amount ofnational attention we’re getting. The word has gotten out that we havesomething special in South Carolina. The dean of the GeorgetownUniversity School of Medicine recently visited us because he wanted tosee our campus and curriculum in advance of a new medical school they’re starting in New Jersey. We just had a conference call with the MayoClinic for the same reason. They’re starting a medical school in Arizona and want to know what we’re doing. Representatives of the AmericanMedical Association and American Association of Medical Colleges arealso planning visits.