[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15106-15107]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           DR. FRED CRAWFORD

 Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, it is a pleasure for me to 
recognize the accomplishments of Dr. Fred Crawford, chief heart surgeon 
at the Medical University of South Carolina. Dr. Crawford grew up in 
rural South Carolina and still enjoys the simple life, but his 
sophisticated approach to work is on par with any big-city surgeon. He 
has done a tremendous job of bolstering the medical community's 
perception of MUSC during his more than 20 years on staff, by building 
a world-class team of physicians and nurses and by fostering excellence 
in his students. I ask that Clay Barbour's profile of Dr. Crawford, 
which appeared in The Post and Courier newspaper follows:

                Surgeon Strives Toward Goal for Program

                           (By Clay Barbour)

       In August 1995, former New York City Mayor David Dinkins 
     experienced severe chest pains and dizziness while on 
     vacation in Hilton Head.
       When it was confirmed that the 68-year-old Dinkins needed 
     triple bypass surgery, there were discussions over where he 
     should receive treatment.
       New York, after all, offered a plethora of world-class 
     physicians.
       But after consulting physicians back home, Dinkins' wife 
     decided to place her husband's heart in the very capable 
     hands of Dr. Fred Crawford, MUSC's chief heart surgeon.
       Crawford says despite Dinkins' high-profile status, his 
     care was the same as the other 800 heart procedures performed 
     at the Medical University of South Carolina that year.
       But in truth, Dinkins' decision to trust MUSC in such an 
     important matter differed from the others in one key aspect.
       It was tangible proof of MUSC's standing in the medical 
     community and validation for Crawford and his heart surgery 
     program.
       When Crawford took over as MUSC's chief cardiothoracic 
     surgeon in 1979, he had one goal--to turn the oft-overlooked 
     program into a major force in medicine.
       ``We were losing too many people to hospitals out of state, 
     and I wanted that to stop,'' he says. ``I wanted this program 
     to carry the weight of other high-profile programs in the 
     country.
       But changing perceptions was easier said than done. And 
     even Crawford admits his goal was the naive dream of a young, 
     idealistic surgeon.
       But as the Dinkins' choice to stay instate proves, with 
     persistence, high standards and skilled personnel, even 
     perceptions can change.


                              country boy

       As Crawford climbs atop the tractor, garbed in flannel and 
     denim, the 58-year-old doctor looks out of place.
       Yet it is here, on his farm amid the corn and sorghum that 
     MUSC's head of surgery is most at home.
       Crawford was raised here, in the community of Providence, 
     not far from where his 400-acre farm now sits. He met his 
     wife of 35 years, Mary Jane, here. And his mother still lives 
     nearby.
       He bought the land 12 years ago, right after Hurricane Hugo 
     battered the state. And though he lives in Mount Pleasant, 
     this rustic getaway serves as a weekend retreat, where he can 
     leave the stress of surgery behind and return to a simpler 
     time.
       Crawford was born in 1942 to a pair of educators. His 
     father was the principal at the local high school. His mother 
     was the principal at the local elementary.
       So he knows where he developed a fondness for academics and 
     teaching. But he's not exactly sure what originally led him 
     to medicine.
       He remembers being impressed by an uncle who practiced 
     medicine. And he always admired the family doctor.
       In 1960, Crawford applied to, and was accepted at, Duke 
     University in Durham, N.C.
       ``And for a country boy in South Carolina, Duke was about 
     as far out as you could get,'' he says. ``I doubt I'd even 
     heard of any Ivy League schools at the time.''
       What started in 1960 was Crawford's 16-year relationship 
     with Duke.
       During his freshman year, Crawford met the man who would 
     become his lifelong mentor, Dr. Will Sealy, a respected heart 
     surgeon and educator at Duke, had a profound influence on 
     Crawford.
       ``One week after I met him, I knew I wanted to be a 
     surgeon,'' Crawford says. ``After two weeks, I knew I wanted 
     to be a heart surgeon. And after three weeks, I knew I wanted 
     to be an academic heart surgeon.''
       Crawford finished three years undergraduate work at Duke 
     and was then accepted to the university's prestigious medical 
     school. After finishing medical school, he began a seven-year 
     surgical residency at the university.
       But the world would intrude on his education.


                                vietnam

       ``I think all surgeons, if they're honest with themselves, 
     wonder at some point if they have the hands to do the job,'' 
     Crawford says.
       Any questions Crawford harbored about his ability were 
     answered between 1969 and 1971--the years he spent in 
     Vietnam.
       After finishing two years of his residency, Crawford was 
     called to duty in the Army. He arrived at the 24th Evacuation 
     Hospital in Long Binh in 1970. Day in and day out, the young, 
     inexperienced Crawford operated on wounded soldiers. Immersed 
     in work, Crawford soon forgot his doubts and concentrated on 
     his patients.
       ``I knew after that experience that I had what it took to 
     do the job,'' he says.
       In 1971, Crawford returned to Duke and completed the last 
     five years of his residency. Finishing in 1976, he accepted a 
     position as chief of cardiac surgery at the University of 
     Mississippi.
       ``Which tells you more about the state of that program at 
     the time than it does about how good I was,'' he says.
       Crawford stayed in Mississippi for three years. Then on a 
     fishing trip to South Carolina in 1978, he met former South 
     Carolina Gov. James Edwards and fate stepped in.
       ``I was impressed with him,'' Edwards says. ``He was an 
     extremely well-trained South Carolina boy. A very together 
     and prepared person.''
       Edwards asked Crawford when he was coming home. It wasn't 
     the first time Crawford had considered returning to the 
     Palmetto State, but this time something clicked.
       And as luck would have it, the position for MUSC's head of 
     cardiothoracic surgery opened up soon after the fishing trip. 
     Crawford decided he'd make a run at it.
       Edwards, an oral surgeon by training, heard that Crawford 
     was not receiving the consideration due his reputation in the 
     industry. So he stepped in.
       ``I checked up on him before going to bat for him,'' 
     Edwards says.

[[Page 15107]]

       ``I was told he had two of the finest hands a surgeon could 
     have, and his decision-making skills were second to none.''
       It wasn't long before Edwards reaped the benefits of his 
     decision to back Crawford. In 1983, the former governor 
     accepted a position as MUSC's president.


                         home again, home again

       In 1979, Crawford accepted the MUSC job and moved home to 
     South Carolina with the dream of turning MUSC into a world-
     class heart surgery program.
       He knew he had to fight public perception to make his dream 
     come true. But to do that, he needed a plan. He started by 
     recruiting world-class physicians and building a team of 
     talented professionals around them.
       ``You can't have a world-class heart surgery program 
     without world-class nurses, and world-class 
     anesthesiologists,'' he says. ``It takes everybody to make it 
     work.''
       He then had to lobby for upgraded facilities, a part of the 
     plan he's still working on.
       ``We're operating in a building that's 55 years old,'' he 
     says. ``In the very near future we're going to have to do 
     something about that.''
       Crawford says that while he has worked hard on making a 
     name for MUSC's heart surgery program, he has never forgotten 
     that he is also an educator. And that's the part of the job 
     he loves best.
       ``There is just something about knowing that you've played 
     a part in turning a young student into a great surgeon,'' he 
     says. ``And as they go out and succeed in the profession, 
     they take a little of you with them.''
       But just because he loves working with students doesn't 
     mean he's easy on them. ``Fred has very high expectations for 
     residents and faculty, and he lets us know when we don't live 
     up to them,'' says Dr. Robert Sade, MUSC's director of Human 
     Values and Healthcare, a medical ethics and health policy 
     think tank.
       Sade has worked with Crawford for close to 22 years, and 
     says the diminutive surgeon can be gruff in a professional 
     environment.
       ``But he's a great guy, with a sharp sense of humor,'' he 
     says. ``It's just that surgery is serious work, and Fred 
     takes it very seriously. But without a doubt, he is probably 
     one of the most intelligent and well-organized physicians 
     I've ever worked with.''
       It's an opinion shared by many in the surgical community. 
     Crawford is the chairman of the American Board of Thoracic 
     Surgery and is the president-elect of the American 
     Association of Thoracic Surgeons, the most prestigious group 
     of its kind in the world.
       ``That was an honor that really blew me away,'' Crawford 
     says.
       At 58, Crawford has years left in his hands, and a job 
     that's not quite finished. He intends to continue toward his 
     goal with the same drive that led him to where he is now.
       ``A year ago I was diagnosed with colon cancer,'' he says. 
     ``I'm better now, but that scare made me aware of how short 
     our time here is. I didn't waste a lot of time before. I 
     don't waste any now.''

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