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Floyd School of Medicine

2026 News

A Matter of Taste: Floyd School Faculty Receives Grant for Study on Taste Perception

Kimberly R. Smith, PhD, an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Neuroscience at the Floyd School of Medicine, received funding from The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for her Research Project entitled: "The Role of Salivary Proteins in Modulating Taste Perception in Humans." 

Dr. Meera Narasimhan Honored With Order of the Palmetto

Dr. Meera Narasimhan, professor and chair in the Department of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Kay and C. Edward Floyd, M.D. School of Medicine, received the Order of the Palmetto from Governor Henry McMaster on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at the South Carolina State House.

Floyd School of Medicine Professor Awarded Funding for Lung Injury Research

Dr. Colin Evans, assistant professor for the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, received a Notice of Award from the NIH NHLBI and NIH NIGMS for his Research Project entitled: "Inhibiting Endothelial Apoptosis in Sepsis-Induced Lung Injury." The award will run from 2026 to 2030 and totals over $2.75 million in funding.

The wait is also the reward: Michael Pitre earns NIH OxCam Scholarship for M.D.-Ph.D.

Michael Pitre, a fourth-year student in the Accelerated Undergraduate to M.D. program, was recently awarded the NIH OxCam Scholarship. This prestigious award, valued at nearly $500,000, will fund a portion of Pitre’s medical school tuition at the University of South Carolina Kay and C. Edward Floyd, M.D., School of Medicine. It will also fund a Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge and at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Durham, North Carolina.

New grant will enable Xueying Yang to improve HIV care through AI-powered tools

Medical advances in antiretroviral therapy mean that people with HIV are living longer, healthier lives with fewer symptoms. Since she arrived at the Arnold School as a postdoctoral fellow in 2018, health promotion, education, and behavior assistant professor Xueying Yang has been working to help people with HIV make the most of their longer lifespans by developing clinical and psychosocial understanding as well as improved treatment for this vulnerable population.

School of Medicine Students Collect Numerous Honors at Discover USC 2026

Students from the University of South Carolina Kay and C. Edward Floyd, M.D. School of Medicine earned six awards across multiple competition categories, including a sweep of the Basic Medical Sciences division. The Floyd School of Medicine captured all three top honors in the Basic Medical Sciences category, underscoring the strength of the school's commitment to foundational biomedical research.

Why rural healthcare fund’s $50B focus on tech upgrades may not help vulnerable hospitals and providers

Kevin J. Bennett is a professor in the department of Family and Preventive Medicine in USC’s Floyd School of Medicine and director of the Center for Rural & Primary Healthcare. He writes this story for The Conversation on how an influx of cash would help stabilize rural health systems, but the program’s focus on technology might leave other major issues unaddressed.

University of South Carolina names new dean of Floyd School of Medicine

The University of South Carolina has named Dr. Jamie P. Dwyer dean of the University of South Carolina Kay and C. Edward Floyd, M.D. School of Medicine.

University of South Carolina School of Medicine named in honor of Floyd family

The University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia is now officially named in honor of the late longtime trustee and surgeon Dr. Edward “Eddie” Floyd and his wife, Kay Floyd.

A PhD Student's Journey, Driven by Curiosity

Stephanie Wilczynski's path into the field of research began with a question. As an undergraduate student at Boston University on a pre-med track, an experience during an internship as a patient care coordinator she found herself drawn less to clinical outcomes and more to the mechanisms behind them.

Love and Medicine: Two Future Doctors Build a Family While Building Careers

When you ask a fourth-year medical student about navigating the twists and turns of their final year of school, they might mention residency interviews, their clinical rotations, anxious nerves about the upcoming match day and perhaps some sleepless nights along the way. For School of Medicine Columbia students Gannett and Caroline Loftis, sleepless nights are also joined by diaper changes, feeding schedules and "tummy time", as the couple welcomed their first child just before Christmas.

A Future CRNA Finds A Calling Built On Trust

In the controlled chaos of an operating room, where every second matters, there is a moment before every procedure when trust is quietly exchanged between a patient and their care team. For future Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) Cassidy Lindler, that moment is everything.

How One PA Student Used Loss to Find Her Calling

At just eight years old, Jennifer Kidane experienced a moment that would shape the rest of her life.

A Counselor’s Mission to Break Down Barriers in the Deaf Community

For many deaf individuals navigating education, employment, and healthcare systems, the barriers they face are not due to ability, but access. For Aileen Welch, a student in the Counseling and Rehabilitation program at the School of Medicine Columbia, that reality is all too real and is the foundation of her career ambitions.

One Student's Mission to Bring Care Home

Clay County, Kentucky is a small Appalachian community that for decades has faced economic hardship, elevated cancer rates and lingering effects of the opioid epidemic. A traditional coal mining community where the median income is among the lowest in the United States, access to general health care can be limited and specialized services often require hours of travel. Ashton Farmer, a native daughter of Clay County and School of Medicine Columbia Genetic Counseling student, hopes to change that narrative.

School of Medicine Columbia Celebrates Match Day 2026

Medical students at the School of Medicine Columbia participated in an interactive and fun Match Day event on March 20, at the Columbia Museum of Art's Boyd Plaza in the heart of downtown Columbia

USC’s new Brain Health Center brings leading-edge brain imaging, cognitive care under one roof

The University of South Carolina marked a major milestone in providing South Carolinians with specialized cognitive care at a ribbon cutting for its Brain Health Center on the university’s Health Sciences Campus on Wednesday (March 18).

Alumna and campus counselor will focus on sensory sensitivity in inaugural TEDxCongaree Vista

Some people choose a major and know exactly what they want their career to be even before they enter college. Others like to leave the door open to unexpected opportunities that will eventually bring clarity. Christina Jones, a licensed counselor for Student Health and Well-Being, places herself in the latter camp.

Printing the Future of Research

In a lab at School of Medicine Columbia's Instrumentation Resource Facility (IRF), three machines are quietly positioning the University at the forefront of biomedical innovation.

M.D. Program's Class of 2027 Celebrates Historic Exam Results

The School of Medicine Columbia's medical education program achieved an important milestone for the first time in school history this past December, when the program's Class of 2027 earned a 100 percent first-time pass rate on the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 exam.

Anatomy of a Career

Fifty years on, School of Medicine faculty member Jim Augustine continues to lay a foundation of knowledge.

Identifying Prenatal Care in Administrative Data

Members of the South Carolina Center for Rural & Primary Healthcare set out to develop and validate a hierarchical algorithm for assigning prenatal care (PNC) encounters using claims data while ensuring continuity of care.

2026 Heart Health Faculty Experts List

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in South Carolina, and rates are rising among younger adults and communities facing the greatest health disparities. During February's American Heart Month, University of South Carolina faculty experts are available to provide insight into the science, clinical care and social factors shaping heart health today — from prevention and early warning signs to new treatments and health equity.

Lingering Under the Radar

Researchers find rare intestinal parasite could affect 1 in 20 South Carolinians

School of Medicine Celebrates 2026 Healthcare Continuing Education Professionals Day

Healthcare Continuing Education Professionals Day(TM), observed annually on the Friday of the third full week in January, recognizes the dedicated professionals who work behind the scenes to ensure clinicians remain current in medical knowledge, clinical practice, and team-based care, supporting high-quality, safe patient outcomes.

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