Born in 1929, the year of the stock market crash, Charles N. Still, MD grew up during the depression and went to high school during World War II. He always wanted to become an academic and an educator because education was very important to him. He initially didn’t have the resources to go to medical so he pursued chemistry from high school. In 1949, Dr. Still graduated from Clemson University as a Distinguished Military Graduate with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry. Then in 1951, he earned a Master of Science in biochemistry from Purdue University. Finally, in 1959, he was able to pursue medical school and received a Doctor of Medicine from the Medical University of South Carolina. He then served as a rotating intern at several University of Chicago clinics from 1959 to 1960, became a neurology fellow of the School of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University from 1960 to 1963, and later completed his residency in neurology at the Johns Hopkins-Baltimore City Hospital in 1963. In pursuit of his education, Dr. Still also became a diplomate through the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Inc.
Throughout his career, Dr. Still has served in education and administrative roles at Clemson University; the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York; McLean Hospital, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School; several medical institutions throughout Columbia, South Carolina; and finally, the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, where he served for 25 years before retiring. Today, Dr. Still holds the title of Professor Emeritus of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science. Prior to his retirement, Dr. Still held several other civic positions outside of work, including president of the Mid-State chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association from 1991 to 1992, medical director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Registry from 1985 to 1993, and chairman of the Grants Review Board of the South Carolina Department of Mental Health (SCDMH). Dr. Still has also been active in his field as an author and an editor, having sat on several editorial boards and contributed to numerous articles and professional journals. He currently serves as Editor Emeritus of “The Recorder,” the Columbia Medical Society journal.
In addition to his career in medical education, Dr. Still also pursued an education at the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, where he received a Master of Art in religion. In 2012, he went on to earn a Master of Sacred Theology from the seminary. Dr. Still considers his time at the seminary as a highlight in his career because he was taught about new concepts of theology. After a varied career, Dr. Still considers his inspiration and motivation through it all to be his late wife, Dorothy Lee Varn.
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