Dr. Sherri Young remembers a lot of things about the night
of January 12, 2018. It was unusually warm and raining. She
woke up to the smell of propane in her family’s home. There
was an eerie pink and white vapor cloud in the driveway. She,
her husband and her daughter barely made it to safety before
the house exploded. People—some they knew, some they
didn’t—responded to the disaster to help. She walked away
with her family, the clothes on her back and a renewed sense
of purpose: to designate 2019-2020 as a year of giving and
paying forward the kindness from strangers she and her family
received in their darkest moment. As a physician, health officer
and executive director of the Kanawha-Charleston Health
Department (KCHD) and president of the West Virginia State
Medical Association (WVSMA), her career path has placed her
in the perfect position to fulfill this personal mission.
An Introduction to Medicine
Helping others is by no means a foreign concept to Young.
Growing up in the small, rural coal town of Corrinne, WV,
she saw people in need and considered careers in which she
could help them. What turned her onto medicine, though, was
her grandfather.
“He was a quadriplegic as a result of a tumor on his spine,”
she says. “He was given six months to live but lived 24 years.
The only way that was possible was through the hard work
of my family—my grandmother, my mom and dad, my dad’s
sisters and I all took care of him.”
What she learned through this introduction to medicine
was how taking proper care of a patient can improve longevity
and quality of life.
She also learned about sacrifice. Her father put off his own
medical career in order to help care for his father. He went back
to school at age 41 to become a physician, enrolling in West
Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM). Young
was in junior high when he resumed his studies, and she had
a unique opportunity to spend time on campus, which made
a lasting impression on her.
“I got to meet the professors and explore the school grounds,”
she remembers. “It was such a warm, loving and nurturing
environment that I couldn’t wait to go back.”
A Path of Firsts
Young enrolled as a student at WVSOM in 1999 and earned
her degree in 2003 before moving to Charleston for a residency
in family medicine at Charleston Area Medical Center. She
and her husband, whom she met at WVSOM and who is also
a doctor, practiced at the Holzer Clinic in South Charleston
for eight years before Young took a leap of faith and moved
into the education side of health care. In 2013 she was named
the first medical director of University of Charleston’s physician
assistant program, and in 2015, she was chosen as the state’s
first immunization officer. In 2019, she became the first female
and first osteopathic doctor to serve as the full-time health
officer and executive director of the KCHD.
While Young sees this position with the health department
as an opportunity to help ensure the safety and well-being of
the 180,000 individuals who live in Kanawha County, she
also views it as the chance to get young people interested in
public health. As a result, she is leading the health department in
creating a teen health board with the hope of reaching local
youth and encouraging them to explore the many exciting
careers available in health care.
“The teen health board’s mission is two-fold,” she says. “It
will allow us to mentor teens ages 15-18 and introduce them to
health care careers, and it will also enable them to act as peer
leaders in their schools, which will help me get the message
out to other students about health concerns like vaping, safety
and eating right. I want them to be excited about public health
while also giving them a boost for their college careers.”
A Role in Mentorship
In August 2019, Young was also named president of the
WVSMA, a patient-centered advocacy organization of physicians
focused on improving health care in the Mountain State. In this
role, she will utilize her wealth of experience in the health care
industry to help physicians with their practices, promote patient
Giving back has given me a
different kind of joy. Once you
place the needs of others in
front of yourself and see the
wonderful impact you are having,
it creates a sense of happiness
that you want to feed and grow.
WWW.WVEXECUTIVE.COM
WINTER 2020
49