Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/610185
t m c » p u l s e | d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 5 10 Q | Tell us about your childhood in South Carolina and your formative years? A | I grew up in a small South Carolina fishing village called Little River. My stepfather ran a small fishing boat and I was the mate on the boat. It was sport fishing in the summer so we typically took parties of six out on the weekends for day trips. We also did Gulf Stream trips where we go about 80 miles off the Carolina coast. It's an eight-hour trek, so you go all night and then you start fish- ing at about two in the morning because you need to wrap up by eight or nine in the morning to get back. It is hard work. In the winter we would take the chairs off of the boat and attach traps for catch- ing snapper, grouper and red snapper. It's really back-breaking work. I lived in a trailer growing up and we ate what we caught that day. The good news was that we ate fresh fish five nights a week. The bad news is my mother deep-fried everything. But it was great. We had a very loving, very close family. Q | What was it like at Oxford University? A | Unbelievable. I was sitting in a room with a kid from Uganda who was the president of the student body at the university when Idi Amin Dada came into power; he was describing C. EDWARD COFFEY, M.D., UNDERSTANDS HOW INVALUABLE SUPPORT IS TO PATIENTS STRUGGLING WITH MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGES. HE HAS SEEN THE IMPACT FIRSTHAND IN SOME OF THE COUNTRY'S MOST SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT PROGRAMS, AND NOW LENDS HIS EXPERTISE AS PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE MENNINGER CLINIC. COFFEY SAT DOWN WITH TEXAS MEDICAL CENTER EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF STRATEGY AND OPERATING OFFICER WILLIAM F. McKEON TO DISCUSS THE PERFECT CARE MODEL, AND HOW HIS TEAM AT MENNINGER—FROM NURSES AND PHYSICIANS TO HOUSEKEEPERS AND ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF—RALLIES AROUND PATIENTS IN NEED. TMC SPOTLIGHT his escape from Uganda. Amin was trying to kill him because students were opposed to the regime. Those experi- ences weren't commonplace in South Carolina. So it was just unbelievable to be at Oxford. After completing additional bach- elor's degrees at Oxford, I went on to Duke medical school. Because I was now two years behind in school, I didn't take any summer breaks and completed medical school in three years. Duke was great. Looking back on it, that was such an incredible time to be in medical school. I rounded with my professors on Friday afternoons and then went back to his or her office and talked about how 'this is what you've got to do and this is how you respond to this kind of situation.' That is where the learning took place, because all of the stuff you learned from the book is going to be incorrect next year anyway. It was an amazing place, and those were the most important experiences. Q | What led you to Detroit? A | I am board certified in both neurology and psychology because I am interested in brain behavior relations. That is the sweet spot for me. Professionally, my interest has been neuropsychiatry, and there are many definitions of that, but in general, it is