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WOODROW W. MCWILLIAMS III, M.D.
Woodrow W. McWilliams III was the son of a military officer, and moved from city
to city before his family settled in Columbus, Ga. After graduating high school,
he knew he wanted to go to college — and to medical school. So he applied to
numerous institutions. His last interview was with Morehouse School of Medicine,
and he knew right away it was where he needed to go.
“MSM fosters something,” he says. “Most of us have a desire to have a purpose and
serve the community, but MSM really encouraged that mentality.”
He never intended to go back to Columbus after finishing his studies. But the more
often he visited home, the more he saw all the good he could do in his county, which
faces significant poverty and healthcare challenges.
“Studying community health at MSM taught me that you really need to see what’s
going on with people,” he says. “I realized I needed to go back home.”
So, after finishing his residency in 2010, he did just that. He is now a radiation
oncologist and physician at the John B. Amos Cancer Center in Columbus
and serves as a trustee at MSM, where he is an active donor with wife
Venus McWilliams.
“The mission of the cancer center is to take care of everybody, whether they live
under the bridge or own it,” McWilliams says. “That’s what MSM stands for too.”