College of Dental Medicine
Gale Clarida, D.M.D., ’86, of Cumming, Georgia, died May 23, 2025. Until her retirement, she practiced dentistry at a private practice with her late husband of 37 years, William Clarida.
Walter Wiggs Fingar, D.D.S., ’87, died Feb. 9, 2026, at the age of 92. In 1968, he began a 25-year career at the MUSC College of Dental Medicine where he served as dean from 1987 to 1993.
Donald “Don” Larry Marler, D.M.D., ’84, died Dec. 12, 2025. In addition to being active in his community and church, he served as a board member and past president of the South Carolina Board of Dentistry.
Goodwin Grove Thomas Jr., D.M.D., ’78, died June 15, 2025. After he completed his D.M.D. degree at MUSC, he earned a certificate in orthodontics from the Medical College of Georgia. He worked in the field for 41 years.
College of Health Professions
Jordan Bradway, DHA, ’18, has a new position as regional director of emergency management and business continuity at Tenet Healthcare.
Chris Cordero, DHA, ’23, has a new position as chief operating officer at Valley Hospital Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Christine Grogan, DHA, ’22, has accepted a new position as chief commercial officer at New Horizon Medical Solutions in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Albany Irick, DHA, ’19, has accepted a new position as executive director of HR business partners for academics at MUSC.
Marcia Iszard, DNAP, CRNA, ’17, ’09 and ’06, an alumna of both the College of Nursing and College of Health Professions, was inducted as a fellow of the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA) during the AANA Annual Congress in Nashville, Tennessee. She recently completed a second term as president of the South Carolina Association of Nurse Anesthesiology and earned a postgraduate certificate as a family nurse practitioner from the University of Cincinnati.
Nikki King, DHA, ’21, has been named to Modern Healthcare’s 40 under 40.
Kern Kurmar, DHA, ’22, has a new position as senior government program consultant in network management for government programs and ACO operations at Advocate Health in Chicago, Illinois.
Jennifer May, OTD, ’23, has served for the past two years as an adult care occupational therapist at Northside Hospital Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dennis McKenna, DNAP, CRNA, ’16 and ’92, was inducted as a fellow of the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA) during the AANA Annual Congress in Nashville, Tennessee.
Sami Noor, DHA, ’25, had doctoral project work accepted for presentation at the upcoming World Congress on Public Health in Cape Town, South Africa.
John Pearson, DHA, ’16, has a new position as president and chief executive officer of Eau Claire Cooperative Health Center in Columbia, South Carolina.
Kaitlyn Shultz, OTD, OTR/L, ’23, was named a recipient of the New to School Scholarship at the Education Resources Inc. 2025 Therapies in the School Conference.
Summer Hartig Stanford, DHA, ’24, has a new position as market leader at ChenMed in Jacksonville, Florida.
Nekita Sullivan, DPT, ’99, has created a therapeutic coloring book, “Pilates in Color,” featuring illustrations designed to strengthen fine motor skills while providing stress relief through Pilates movements and natural landscapes.
Gwyn Swain, DHA, ’13, has a new role as adjunct professor in the Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA) program at Radford University in Radford, Virginia. She also serves as an MHA program development consultant and adjunct faculty member at the University of North Carolina Pembroke in Pembroke, North Carolina.
Michael Ugwueke, DHA, ’01, has been elected chair-elect for the American College of Healthcare Executives for 2026-2027.
College of Medicine
James Jordan, M.D., ’04, completed his term (2023-2025) as section chair of neurohospitalism for the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) and was recently awarded fellow status by the AAN.
College of Pharmacy
William Wynn III, Pharm.D., ’97, completed his master’s degree in pharmacy leadership at the University of Cincinnati College of Pharmacy in December 2025 and started a new role at Indivior Pharmaceuticals, as senior key account director for criminal justice in the Carolinas.
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