Annual Pub 2023 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 29
SUMMER 2023 MAGAZINE
R
andy St. Hill, MD, has graduated from medical
school twice. At least, that’s what he likes to say.
“I was born two weeks before my dad graduated
from medical school,” Dr. St. Hill explains. “I was
on stage with him at his graduation.”
Dr. St. Hill’s own journey to medical school was an unorthodox
one; however, his dream of becoming a surgeon – one that
he verbalized at a shockingly young age – never wavered.
According to Dr. St. Hill9s mother, he 昀rst said he wanted to be
a surgeon at the age of three. An early inkling that this dream
would become a reality came when Dr. St. Hill performed his 昀rst
operation: sewing the snout back onto his favorite teddy bear.
He had learned the art of tailoring from his father. “My father’s
parents passed away when he was really young,” Dr. St. Hill
explains. After their deaths, Dr. St. Hill’s father and his siblings
– all under the age of 17 – worked to support themselves in
their native Barbados. “My father ended up working at a place
where they had a cobbler and a suit maker,” Dr. St. Hill says. “I
still have one of the suits that he’d sewn.”
From a tailor shop in Barbados, Dr. St. Hill’s father earned a
track scholarship to Philander Smith College in Arkansas and
ultimately was accepted into the University of California, San
Diego9s 昀rst class of Black medical students in 1969. A few
years later, Dr. St. Hill would be on the stage for his 8昀rst9 medical
school graduation.
“My dad actually wanted to be a surgeon, but at the time, given
the racial politics, there were very few Black surgeons,” Dr. St.
Hill recounts.
