Pioneering faculty member looks back on four-decade legacy

When Harold Clayton “Clay” Thompson III, D.O., 第一次看到雅典郡, 俄亥俄州, in 1977, 他最近刚结婚, a year out of medical school in Chicago, and fresh from an internship at a New York hospital. He figured he’d put in some time in the emergency department of Mt. St. 玛丽的 Hospital in Nelsonville, and sooner or later head back home.

“我只是出来看看，”他回忆说. “我来自芝加哥，在我的脑海里，我总是想回到芝加哥.”

More than 40 years later, he and his wife, Tanya, still live in Athens. 作为一名敬业的社区医生，汤普森在俄亥俄州东南部和传统学院的历史上都赢得了一席之地, 医学教育工作者, pioneer of diversity and mentor to many future osteopathic physicians.

“I’m very pleased that I’ve gotten to live in Athens,他说. “Because I’ve gotten such an education, and I’ve been able to share it.”

当他在1979年被雇佣时, he became the college’s first African American faculty member, 同时也可能是第一个在雅典县执业的拥有学位的黑人医生. (According to the book “Stories of Medicine in Athens County, 俄亥俄州,” by Heritage College faculty member Gary Cordingley, M.D., Ph.D.早在19世纪中后期，一位非裔美国医生就在该县执业^th century, but may not have had a medical degree.2013年，俄亥俄州骨科协会授予汤普森最高荣誉, 杰出服务奖.

移植植根

给芝加哥人的, 在俄亥俄州农村行医需要一段时间来适应——汤普森必须了解农业事故, for example – but he put down strong roots as a community physician. 他与人共同创立了雅典的快速护理诊所，并担任过一段时间的县监狱医疗主任. In 2008, he was elected county coroner, an office he held through 2014. 与此同时，他与医学院的关系也一直深厚而持久. 他说:“我几乎参加了他们举办的每一届毕业班.

Many still remember Thompson as a longtime voice of 家庭健康，这是WOUB公共媒体中心制作的一个简短的广播节目，回答了这个问题 关于健康和医疗保健的问题. Thompson took over the job from former college Dean Frank Myers, D.O.他称赞他是“广播节目界的迈克尔·乔丹”.” When the program went off the air in July 2012, it was reaching an estimated 11 million listeners worldwide.

在他教授急诊医学的这些年里(他最近在71岁退休), Thompson was a forerunner in promoting diversity and inclusion. 事实上，当遗产学院 推出了 它的 包容性办公室 2018年4月, 一位发言者甚至指出，该办公室的基础是在30多年前由少数先驱奠定的, 包括汤普森.

The college was only a year old in 1977, when Thompson came to work in the emergency department at Mt. St. 玛丽的. 雅典的O’bleness纪念医院后来与该学院签订合同，让它为医院提供紧急医疗服务, 他开始在那里全职工作.

值得注意的是，在山. St. 玛丽的汤普森还和两位医生同事在尼尔森维尔开了一家家庭诊所. 在E区.R., 他说, “我们每天工作24小时，休息48小时, 比如消防部门,” then cover the clinic during off hours. 这不是很累人吗? “You were young; you could do anything,” he mused. “我们工作非常努力.”

Soon enough, Dean Myers asked him to join the medical school faculty. 汤普森起初犹豫了一下，但在“比我更聪明的人”的建议下，他接受了这份工作.

为多样性而努力

从他到雅典的第一天起, Thompson was alert to diversity issues in the college and community, recognizing that whether he chose to or not, 他将成为一个榜样. “我知道雅典的黑人在我来这里训练之前就把我的照片放在钱包里, 因为他们在报纸上看到了,他说. “(作为一名教员)我意识到我被要求做某些事情，因为我应该‘代表’.’”

不过，他也意识到，在医疗保健及其他领域存在着更大的不平等. “When you look at the history of medicine, representation for diverse groups has not been important,他说. “我是一个孩子 ’60s – I came through the time of the Black Panthers, 马尔科姆·艾克斯和马丁·路德·金, so I was aware of those kinds of issues.当他加入传统学院时, 他回忆道, “we didn’t have a lot of underrepresented minorities. 对我来说，很明显，有时候这些学生受到的待遇有点不同.”

汤普森帮助改变了这一点. 在80年代, he worked with the Health Career Opportunities 程序, 一个早期的管道项目，旨在鼓励来自未被充分代表的少数民族背景的高中生和大学生考虑医学院，并支持他们追求健康事业.

他曾担任该学院多元文化医学卓越中心及其ExCEL项目的主任, 试图通过积极招收非裔美国人来增加URM的入学率, 美国原住民和西班牙裔学生. In 1994, largely in recognition of his work with Project ExCEL, 汤普森被授予Kappa Alpha Psi兄弟会的荣誉奖项, 这是一个社会组织，表彰在非裔美国人社区中表现出杰出教学和咨询技能的专业人士. 2017年，俄亥俄州少数族裔健康委员会授予他少数族裔健康领导奖.

一次只帮助一个学生

Thompson has also made an impact on a more personal level, 为来自不同背景的学生提供一对一的支持和咨询, 特别关注URM的学生.

“I can remember him inviting us over to his house, meeting his wife and having the important, 必要的对话,” 罗宾·纽伯恩博士.O. (93)，他现在是 都柏林传统学院家庭医学临床助理教授. “他会告诉我们， ‘There aren’t that many of you guys, and I’m here for you. 你可能会经历一些大多数学生不会经历的事情.’ He was kind of that resource person for us.”

His mentoring wasn’t exclusive to any one set of students, though. Thompson has been drawn to help any student who’s struggling; he’s a strong believer in second chances and the power of an encouraging word.

“You’re so scared as a medical student – you make one mistake, 你觉得你的生活完了,他说. “我告诉学生们，‘世界是你的，你可以做任何你想做的事. My job as a faculty member is to help you to be successful.’ And we’ve had students fail, come back and then just soar.”

One former student who values Thompson’s support is 布莱恩·华莱士，D.O. (’08), 现在是佛罗里达州一名成功的整形外科医生，曾与包括辛辛那提红人棒球队在内的运动员合作. Thompson’s guidance helped him find a niche in medicine that he loves.

“He was excellent in terms of helping me pick a specialty, 找出什么最适合我，真正激励和推动我,华莱士说. “I guess from a medical school standpoint, you decide if you’re going to be a medical person or a surgical person. 他帮我弄清楚我可能更适合外科专科因为他是一名急诊医生, 我也考虑过这个问题. But he discussed sort of the pros and cons of that, and it really helped clarify to me that I’d be better in surgery, 更具体地说，是在矫形外科.”

传递火炬

汤普森向学生们传达的部分信息是，他们需要认真思考，作为一名医生，他们真正想要完成的是什么——以及什么时候得到帮助, 把爱传递出去.

“当我想起他的时候, 我认为最重要的一件事是，他总是教导我们回馈的重要性,纽伯恩说. “所以，无论你接受过什么样的教育, it’s important to continue to be a mentor to students coming in, and especially from an underrepresented minority perspective. 他告诉我们，‘嘿，当你们出去的时候，成为那些URM学生的导师.’”

对他来说, 汤普森说，他为自己为学生成功扫清障碍所做的一切感到自豪，并认为这是作为一名医生的一部分. He also stresses that he hasn’t done it alone.

他说:“我们这里有很多好人，他们真的想帮助学生。. “And that’s why I went into medicine, to help."