Page 32 - South Mississippi Living - August, 2017

career
PEOPLE handing over the reins
MOVING FORWARD
FROM HIS
Dr. David Spencer retiring but continuing community involvement
story by Kelsey Sunderman-Foster photos by Donn Hupp
For more than 35 years, South schools in Pascagoula and Gautier. “I placed the first one in New Orleans.”
Mississippi Surgeons, one of Mississippi’s largest general surgical practices, has been committed to providing the
highest quality surgical care South Mississippi has to offer. With areas of expertise ranging anywhere from laparoscopic surgery to surgical weight loss, the surgeons of South Mississippi Surgeons are well versed in a wide variety of specialities.
One such surgeon, Dr. David L. Spencer, M.D., was a healthcare provider at South Mississippi
Surgeons since the beginning in 1981 up until his recent retirement in July. During his time with South Mississippi Surgeons, Dr. Spencer left his mark not only on the medical community, but on the Gulf Coast community as a whole.
Having practiced in Jackson County for a total of 36 years, Spencer spent a great deal of his free time working to benefit his neighbors. His list
of community involvement is as extensive as his medical background, and includes titles such as Cub Master of Pack 223, Red Cross Blood Services Committee chairman and T-ball and baseball coach among many others.
Spencer was also a member of the strategic planning committee of the Pascagoula school system as they developed a plan for the new high
served as president of a private group of citizens called LEAD (League for Excellence in Academic Development) for about three years,” Spencer said. “During that time, we raised funds for classroom teachers to add to
the education environment at the classroom level.”
Spencer’s medical career has been focused on advancing new innovations in surgery in the community. “When
I first arrived in Pascagoula, Dewey Lane, M.D. was just starting to place DDD pacemakers for heart disease,” said Spencer. “I was part of that learning environment, and we were placing DDD Pacemakers before they
LISA CARNLEY was Dr. David Spencer’s nurse for the last
6 years of his surgical career.
Along with Dr. Ricardo Merlos, Anesthesiologist, Spencer was the first to place Swan Ganz catheters for the monitoring of vital signs in critically ill patients. Later, when laparoscopy became more widespread and had proved its usefulness in the general surgical population, he performed the first laparoscopic gallbladder removal at Singing River Hospital.
“Over the years I have been blessed to have an exceptionally good training background, which allowed me to do the full extent of General Surgery,” said Spencer. “My favorite procedure was carotid endarterectomy. This
is where one can prevent stroke by removing the buildup of plaque in the internal carotid artery.”
When Singing River Hospital implemented a full wound care program in 2004, Spencer served as the Medical Director. This marked the first time the hospital system offered Hyperbaric Oxygen for certain difficult-to-heal wounds and had a comprehensive wound care center. Since its inception, the wound care centers have grown to become the largest in the southeast. “As of October 2016, we had 33,000 patient visits to our wound care centers per year,” he said.
“I have and would still enjoy doing
32 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • August 2017
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