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"L" is for Lynch, Kenneth Merrill, Sr. (1887-1974)

South Carolina From A to Z
SC Public Radio

"L" is for Lynch, Kenneth Merrill, Sr. (1887-1974). Physician, educator. A native of Texas, Lynch moved to South Carolina in 1913 and became the first professor of pathology at the Medical College of South Carolina and the state’s first full-time pathologist. He is credited with discovering the first treatment for Granuloma inguinale, a venereal disease. In 1943 he became dean of the Medical College, a title the board of trustees changed to president in 1949. As president Lynch initiated the concept of a medical center for the state: calling for advancement of medical education, construction of a clinic and hospital, enlargement of the clinical teaching staff, and opportunities for postgraduate work and research. Overcoming opposition from the Medical Society of South Carolina, in 1955, Kenneth Merrill Lynch, Sr., oversaw construction of the Medical College Hospital.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.