Phyllis MacGilvray began a new chapter in her career when she was named dean of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville in July.
In 2005, the Abbeville native started her journey in medical education and has held leadership roles at various research and educational institutions, including Eastern Virginia Medical School, Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune and the University of Texas at San Antonio.
MacGilvray joined Prisma Health in 2018 as vice chair for academic affairs in the Department of Family Medicine and also began working with USC School of Medicine Greenville as a clinical associate professor. Since her return to Greenville, she has also served as clinical professor, senior associate dean for academic affairs, executive director for the office of admissions and registrar with the college.
Establishing her goals
As MacGilvray settles into her role as dean, she plans to focus on student-service learning, student-led community-wellness initiatives, and supporting and bolstering research.
“As a primary care physician, I really enjoy volunteering with the medical students in the community,” MacGilvray said. “Our students are at a lot of events that happen in Greenville. We will have students at Fall for Greenville doing CPR demonstrations, blood pressure screenings, things like that. We also have a student-led clinic every spring.”
Another area MacGilvray wants to continue to focus on is lifestyle medicine, which encourages the use of evidence-based lifestyle interventions such as exercise and diet to prevent, treat and reverse chronic diseases.
“We teach the components of lifestyle medicine from the first day that (the students) set foot on our campus,” MacGilvray said. “When they’re learning about hypertension, they learn that there are certain foods that you can eat that are nitric oxide promoters, which automatically decrease your blood pressure. We also talk about health benefits of physical exercise, substances, mental health and belonging.”
Combatting a nationwide physician shortage
MacGilvray also plans to grow the university’s Primary Care Accelerated Track program, which she helped develop to fast track aspiring primary care doctors by reducing medical school by one year.
As part of the program, PCAT participants receive full tuition reimbursement and in return, they commit to a four-year service in family medicine with Prisma Health. They are also prematched into a family practice residency with Prisma Health in the Upstate, which eliminates the need for each student to interview for residencies.
“We have a primary care shortage nationwide and in South Carolina, in particular. We are entering a crisis level in rural areas of South Carolina,” MacGilvray said. “This is one step to try to help alleviate the tuition debt burden that they’re facing. Students leave medical school with about $200,000 to $250,000 in debt. We are trying to prioritize students that are more likely to choose primary care (and) come from backgrounds that show us they are likely to go into rural areas of the state and practice.”
Educational background
MacGilvray attended Clemson University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry. She graduated from the Medical University of South Carolina and completed a family medicine residency with the University of Vermont Family Medicine Residency and a National Institute for Program Director Development I Fellowship and Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors.
She is certified by the American Board of Family Medicine, American Board of Lifestyle Medicine, South Carolina Medical Board and Texas Medical Board.
