MEET DR. LASHONDA SPENCER
INCOMING DIRECTOR OF DREW C. A. R. E. S.
The University has scored a major recruiting success with the hiring of Dr. LaShonda Spencer as Director of Drew C. A. R. E. S. She has also become a Professor of Pediatrics in the Department of Internal Medicine. Dr. Spencer brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the University. She is a local product who was born at St. Francis Hospital in Lynwood.
A graduate of UC Berkeley who attended the Keck School of Medicine at USC, she credits her training at Berkeley for a heightened awareness of the need to work in an underserved community.“ My time at Berkeley fostered a sense of community. Working as a volunteer with various nonprofit organizations strengthened my sense of advocacy. During med school, LA County General Hospital’ s emphasis led to my desire and commitment to serve in my own community,” she noted.
Dr. Spencer’ s commitment to clinical work, teaching, and research come naturally. Her grandmother and mother were both teachers and the family split time between the greater Compton area and Salt Lake City, where both of her parents attended college.
Her father was a scholarship football player at the University of Utah. At the time, there was a steady pipeline from Compton to Utah. A community of former Comptonites was established when many people stayed post-college. She noted that the group was tight-knit and very supportive of each other. After teaching in the Compton Unified School District for many years, her mother later returned to Salt Lake City, eventually retiring
as an Assistant Superintendent in the Salt Lake City School District.
As a child, Dr. Spencer’ s initial medical interest was borne out of curiosity. She and her twin sister Letitia, now an OB / GYN physician at Kaiser Riverside, were always around medicine and science-related pursuits that piqued both of their curiosities. Her mother and grandmother were both schoolteachers. Given her family history, Dr. Spencer said were it not for the draw of medicine and science, she probably would have become a schoolteacher herself.
Her residency was served at the University of Utah Hospital, concentrating on internal medicine and pediatrics while her husband was completng his Ph. D. That training was followed by a fellowship back at USC / County General where she studied infectious diseases. The opportunity landed her squarely in the research and study of HIV.“ That transition was fine,” she said.“ Coming back to USC was an experience of being home.”
She became a fixture at USC: four years of medical school, a two-year infectious disease fellowship, then 17 years at the Maternal Child Adolescent / Adult Center for Virology and Infectious Diseases at the Keck School of Medicine, dubbed the MCA Clinic. Dr. Spencer started in
CDU COLLEGE OF MEDICINE | PG. 12