Emory remembers Wright Caughman, longtime health sciences leader

Emory University has lost one of its most influential, admired and beloved leaders with the passing of S. Wright Caughman, MD.

Caughman passed away peacefully at home on Aug. 22, 2024. He served Emory in many roles over more than three decades, including executive vice president for health affairs (EVPHA), CEO of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center (WHSC), chair of the Emory Healthcare Board of Directors, chair of the Department of Dermatology, director of The Emory Clinic, vice president for clinical and academic integration, physician and researcher.

A graduate of Davidson College, Caughman began his career as a high school English teacher in his hometown of Columbia, South Carolina. He then pursued a medical career, receiving his MD from the Medical University of South Carolina and completing his residency at Harvard Medical School, where he served as chief resident in dermatology.

After working as a medical officer and principal investigator in the dermatology branch of the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health, he joined Emory's dermatology faculty in 1990.

In addition to teaching and working as a staff physician at The Emory Clinic, Grady Memorial Hospital and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Caughman was director of research in Emory's Department of Dermatology for four years before becoming department chair. He served as a member of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in the Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, of the Winship Cancer Institute faculty and as director of the Emory Skin Diseases Research Center.

He led a successful research program in cutaneous biology for many years and was co-chair of the School of Medicine research strategic plans in 1997 and 2003. He was named chair of the Department of Dermatology in 1997.

In 2004, Caughman became director of the Emory Clinic and vice president for clinical integration, a role in which he was responsible for coordinating, implementing and managing the center's strategic plan for transforming health and healing.

In 2010, he was named executive vice president for health affairs, CEO of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center and chair of the board for Emory Healthcare, roles he fulfilled with distinction until 2015.

Caughman oversaw many achievements which benefited both Emory and its stakeholders. For example, during that time:

• Two of Emory's hospitals were named by the University Health System Consortium as being in the top 10 nationally for quality.
• Emory clinicians successfully treated the first Ebola patients to receive care in the U.S.
• Emory's research funding continued its upward trajectory, despite a challenging economic environment.
• Each of Emory's three health sciences schools grew in educational offerings and slots available to students.
• WHSC, together with Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, constructed the Health Sciences Research Building to accelerate the momentum of Emory's extraordinary research trajectory.
• Emory Healthcare provided a record amount of charity care.

When Caughman first took the helm of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center, a profile of him in Emory Report began, "Dr. Wright Caughman can diagnose a melanoma or diagram a sentence with equal precision." This line hinted at one of the qualities that made him so special.

He was not just an outstanding clinician, a talented investigator and an Emory veteran with a real understanding of the issues and opportunities facing the health sciences center, but also a true citizen of Emory University and a champion of all fields of inquiry. His understanding and passion for Emory didn't begin and end with the health sciences. He was equally committed to our academic and arts programs, to the health and well-being of all the people who make up the Emory community and to the pursuit of understanding that lies at the heart of our mission.

Caughman was widely admired for his humility, graciousness, sincerity and warmth. Affectionately known by many simply as "Dr. C," he truly exemplified the spirit of service that is synonymous with Emory.

Each May, he offered the following advice to graduating medical students about interacting with patients:

"Do not hurriedly talk down or about them as if they were not human. Each one is someone's mother, father, spouse, child, sibling. Respect them as if they were yours. Look them in the eye, listen to them and then listen again. Laugh with them when you can. Likewise, commiserate with them in their sorrow and their anxiety. Always be honest, but with compassion. Say you're sorry when you should be. Treat them all with respect and honor and professionalism."

All who were fortunate to work alongside Wright Caughman know that he applied these same principles in his daily life, not only to his patients, but also to everyone he encountered.

"I've had the good fortune to experience WHSC from many different perspectives - physician, educator, researcher and administrator - and to work alongside some of the most talented and dedicated people I've ever known," he once said. "The amount I've learned from my colleagues, students and patients over the past 30 years is humbling, and I'm still learning every day. I have been impressed time and again by the talent, commitment and personal engagement brought to our distinguished institution by my colleagues and friends. They are the critical factor that enables Emory to do great things and that makes Emory a great place to serve."

"On behalf of Emory University and its Woodruff Health Sciences Center, we offer our sincere condolences to Dr. Caughman's wife, Alison, his three adult children, his seven grandchildren and his entire family. And to Dr. Caughman himself, we offer our unending admiration and gratitude for a lifetime of influential leadership and selfless service," Ravi I. Thadhani said in an email to the Woodruff Health Sciences Center community. Thadhani serves as executive vice president for health affairs, executive director of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center and vice chair of the Emory Healthcare Board of Directors.

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