By Matt Tomsic
mtomsic@scbiznews.com
Published Oct. 24, 2011

Rep. Jim Clyburn recalled his parents, both of whom died of cancer, during the dedication of a research center named for him at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Rep. Jim Clyburn, for whom the MUSC research center is named, spoke of his parents, both of whom died of cancer. Two empty rockers sat on the stage to honor his parents' spirits. Dr. Andrew Craft said the new research center will be the venue through which MUSC fights cancer.

“What you’re doing here will make sure that mothers and fathers in the future will have a better and a longer life,” Clyburn said.

Dr. Andrew S. Kraft, director of the Hollings Cancer Center, said the James E. Clyburn Research Center would be the means used by MUSC to attack cancer.

Clyburn and other officials dedicated the research center Friday. The center, which houses 78 labs and other facilities in drug discovery and bioengineering buildings, brings scientists from different fields under one roof. Researchers there will also study Alzheimer’s disease and heart disorders, among other medical problems.

MUSC took a unique approach by combining three institutions in two buildings, said Dr. Roderic Pettigrew, director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. The approach is promising, he said, and essential to solving medical problems faced by doctors and patients each day. Pettigrew quoted Max Weber, a sociologist who taught that striving for the impossible is necessary to obtain the possible.

Kraft said the new space will work to answer the types of questions — Why did I get cancer? And will my children inherit it? — that Kraft hears each day from cancer patients.

Cancer researchers have a “tough hill” to climb and a “long race to run,” Kraft said.

“However, I will tell you, we are making progress,” he said.

The center has a fitting namesake, Kraft said, because Clyburn knows about overcoming challenges.

Clyburn said he thought “What if?” the morning of the dedication. What if Sen. Ernest “Fritz” Hollings took a different path in the 1950s and 1960s instead of pushing for integration at Clemson University, he wondered. And what if former Gov. Jim Edwards hadn’t kept Clyburn on as the state’s Human Affairs commissioner, a role that pushed Clyburn to the public sphere?

“Maybe he saw in me what led us to this day,” Clyburn said. “But I thank him for having the good sense to keep me.”

Clyburn continued recounting his past: telling his father he would go into the public instead of the ministry and moving to Charleston with his wife to teach history and start their family.

Clyburn said he tries to change lives for the better, a mission he and the new research center share.

Clyburn said, “I hope the good Lord allows me to live long enough to prove the honor you’ve bestowed upon me today.”