DR . WHO ?
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT DR . EUGENE GILES , MD
Aaron Burch
“ I
was
asked me was , ‘ What did I want to be when I was grown ?’
five years old . It was a Saturday . We lived in the country in Mississippi at the time . One of the last questions my mom
And I said physician ,” Dr . Eugene Giles remembered . “ I didn ’ t know for sure what a physician was , but that came out of my mouth . She died that afternoon from complications of childbirth . Not long after , my aunt and uncle adopted me and my sister .”
Dr . Giles has come a long way from the little boy who made a promise to be a doctor in April 1961 , but he kept that promise . Through years of hard work , persistence and patience , Dr . Giles achieved that and more : opening the Omni Medical Center , ( his very own health care facility in west Louisville ) and devoting his life to God as an Associate Minister at the West Chestnut Street Baptist Church . But , before he could achieve his goals , he had some growing up to do first .
Oscar and Alice Giles took Eugene and his sister , Mabel , into their home in Indianola , Mississippi , after his mother , Minnie Giles Monet , died . Growing up in the country , the young Dr . Giles was far behind where he needed to be for grade school . The school gave his new parents a decision to make . They could choose to flunk Eugene to give him a year to acclimate , or he could pass and double his efforts to catch up to the class over the summer .
“ My aunt chose to pass me . She home schooled me over the summer for four or five years . We ’ d stay up at night studying , and she got me there ,” said Dr . Giles . “ I was always still insisting that I ’ d be a doctor . People said that was crazy . There were no black doctors in Mississippi , no black role models like that . The only options were teacher , preacher or laborer . But my aunt always told me I could be whatever I wanted to , and she ’ d always be there to help me along the way .”
To get into medical school is always a tall order , and it was no different for Eugene Giles . To prepare , he started by reading anything he could get his hands on . “ I was a bookworm . I knew you had to read well to pass the ACT , so I read everything I could . I ’ d go to different peoples ’ houses and read their books and magazines while I was there .”
When he wasn ’ t reading , Dr . Giles was playing music : trumpet in the school band , and piano lessons on the side . Soon he was playing piano for churches and youth events .
Once he was graduated from high school , Dr . Giles enrolled at Tennesee State University in Nashville for his pre-med courses . In their offer to him , TSU mentioned that those who graduated near the top of the class were almost 100 percent of the time accepted to Meharry Medical College , also in Nashville .
“ So I knew that if I did well , I was going to medical school . I knew what had to be done ,” said Dr . Giles smiling . “ When I got to Tennesee State , I sat down with my advisor , whose name was Mrs . Exum , and she wanted me to take these remedial classes because I was from a small school in Mississippi . Her thinking was that I wouldn ’ t be able to compete with kids from private schools or schools from big cities .”
But Dr . Giles wasn ’ t ready to change his plans , and he knew he
Editor ’ s Note : Welcome to Louisville Medicine ’ s member spotlight section , Dr . Who ? In the interest of simply getting to know each other as a society of colleagues , we ’ ll be highlighting random GLMS physicians on a regular basis . If you would like to recommend any GLMS physician member to the Editorial Board for this section , please e-mail aaron . burch @ glms . org or call him at 736-6338 .
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