MEMBERS
DR. Who
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT LEWIS HARGETT, MD
Growing up in Valdosta, Georgia in a rural community, Physical Medicine and Rehab Physician Lewis Hargett did not think about a career in medicine. However, his parents always stressed academic excellence so his brothers and sisters would be prepared for a career. His early life consisted of family gatherings, farm work and fun times visiting his grandparents’ farm of livestock, crops, and gardens. He focused on academics, but was also interested in farming and sports.
“ There was a baseball field, near my grandparents’ house. My brothers, friends and I would enjoy playing or watching the games. I excelled in track, winning awards in local, regional and state meets.”
“ I was very active in high school,” Dr. Hargett remembered. As a younger child, he had planted vegetables with his brother and helped raise livestock to place in the Georgia State Fair.“ That experience prepared me for the 4H and Future Farmers of America clubs I joined in high school.” Dr. Hargett pursued sports, participated in debate and academic teams, and became an officer in the FFA. Still, the question of‘ What do you want to be when you grow up?’ wasn’ t answered easily.
“ Some of my teachers noted I excelled in academics as well,” he said.“ My teachers started encouraging me more … asking what I wanted to do in life. Of course I was unsure, but I started thinking.” At a career day forum in 10th grade, an ophthalmologist talked to the students about jobs in health care. His presentation drew Dr. Hargett’ s attention.“ As an honor student in high school, I had a thirst for learning and wanted to attend college. But I had to decide what field to pursue,” he said.“ I began to consider a medical profession as a career interest.”
Dr. Hargett knew he wanted to attend a college in his home state. After visiting his brother, a biology major at Clark Atlanta University, he was impressed. The university would later offer him a four-year academic scholarship, and so he chose to follow in his brother’ s footsteps.
“ Early in college, my biology professor / academic counselor wanted to discuss my academic performance. Since I was doing well in his class, he asked me what I wanted to major in,” Dr. Hargett recalled.“ The professor said,‘ It looks like this class is too easy for you … have you thought about being a doctor?’ I told him I’ d thought about it but hadn’ t decided on a major yet. He told me I needed to focus and make a decision on a science major. So, I made up my mind. From that point on …. I wanted to be a doctor.”
Just as in the track meets, once he set his sights on medicine, Dr. Hargett was moving fast towards his finish line. He majored in biology with a minor in chemistry, and each summer he participated in a science internship program. He attended summer programs at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta and the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Then, between junior and senior years, he was invited to a summer program at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts.
“ That was a great opportunity,” said Dr. Hargett.“ The people were just like me, from all over the country, they were also interested in becoming physicians. I made connections, and some of those participants are still my friends today.”
Dr. Hargett was graduated Magna Cum Laude from Clark Atlanta University, then entered Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. While at Meharry, a representative from the University of Louisville visited the medical school seeking potential residents for the internal medicine program. Dr. Hargett saw his next pathway begin to open.
“ After graduation, I was on the road to reaching my goal,” he( continued on page 30)
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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