COSAM News Articles 2022 May A heartfelt legacy: COSAM alumnus Dr. Robert Copeland receives Georgia Heart Center naming recognition, recalls journey at Auburn

A heartfelt legacy: COSAM alumnus Dr. Robert Copeland receives Georgia Heart Center naming recognition, recalls journey at Auburn

Published: 05/09/2022

By: Leslie Leak

The Georgia Heart Clinic at Wellstar West Georgia Medical Center has been officially renamed the Copeland Heart and Vascular Center by the Callaway Foundation in honor of Auburn University alumnus Dr. Robert Copeland.

Copeland ’60 (B.S., Pre-med) was instrumental in the development of the Georgia Heart Clinic at West Georgia Health in 1972 and served as its first medical director providing cardiac care to the Troup County community.

Copeland was recognized as a true visionary in adopting new technology, encouraging participation in research and training and setting high standards for clinical excellence in cardiovascular care. He was instrumental in the state’s decision to participate in the Cardiovascular Patient Outcomes Research Team (CPORT) study, a study which changed care of the ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) patient for the nation by allowing percutaneous coronary intervention at hospitals without surgery on site.

As noted by Wellstar West Georgia Medical Center President Coleman Foss, “We are tremendously excited for our Heart and Vascular Center to be named in honor of Dr. Copeland. He has meant so much for this community, this state, this region and truly for this nation, in terms of what he’s been able to accomplish in cardiac care. Without him and his guidance, we would not have the cardiac center that we have today.”

“I’m humbled by having my life’s work honored in the changing of the name to the Copeland Heart and Vascular Center,” said Copeland. “It’s been a long and sometimes difficult but rewarding journey to bring cardiac care services here that weren’t available in any other town our size in Georgia. I really wanted to bring the same level of services and excellence to LaGrange that I had experienced during my time at Harvard and Mass General, and I was fortunate to have the support of so many along the way, including Fuller Callaway Jr. and other local businesses."

“We knew we could develop something here that was done with excellence, was self-supporting and had the potential to be important to a lot of people. And that’s exactly what we did with the Heart Clinic.”

Over his storied 50-year career, Copeland has served as member, fellow, master and Chair Emeritus of the Board of Regents of the American College of Physicians and was named its Governor of the Year in 1991. In 2002, he received the organization’s Alfred Stengel Award for Outstanding Service. A Chair Emeritus of the American College of Physicians Foundation Board of Trustees, Copeland also served as a clinical professor at UAB and Emory and is a member of the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine.

Copeland’s heartfelt legacy can be traced all the way back to his days as an Auburn student beginning in 1956. Growing up on a farm in Marshall County, Alabama, he knew from the first grade that he wanted to be a doctor.

He initially had a challenging time adjusting to life as a university student, even writing home to his parents that he wanted to leave after the first quarter. Fortunately, he decided to stay thanks to the advice of some faculty, including Dr. Frank Stevens, a professor of chemistry who would later have an enormous impact in Copeland’s academic and career trajectory.

Though he was able to enter medical school early, Copeland reveres his time at Auburn and felt that the pre-health program prepared him for medical school by setting the foundation for a strong work ethic and better study habits that would lead to success throughout his career.

“The magic word in education, particularly in medicine, is a very simple, four-letter word–work,” said Copeland. “I learned at Auburn that I just had to flat do the work and be a better student.”

Copeland surrounded himself with competitive peers whose commitment to success motivated him to excel in the classroom.

“The students I knew wanted to be diligent students,” recalled Copeland. “The opportunities that were out there were pretty clear. I even met my dear wife, Jenny, in the library, and she was a good student–an even better student than I was.”

Copeland knew that Stevens was the pre-health advisor, but it wasn’t until many years later that he understood the full scope of his influence. While attending the Medical College of Alabama (now the University of Alabama at Birmingham), Copeland questioned how he was able to get into medical school a year earlier than most of his other classmates. However, Professor Henry Hoffman cleared up things when he shared that the admissions committee considered Stevens’ word gold.

“If he said to admit you, you were going to get admitted,” Copeland said.

Copeland recalled that Stevens, “changed my life, and I still have such a large sense of gratitude that he paid attention to me and told people I was worth betting on.” As a result, the Copelands continue to support a scholarship for students in the College of Sciences and Mathematics that was established in memory of Stevens.

Upon graduation with honors from the Medical College of Alabama in 1963, Copeland and a fellow Auburn alumnus, Dr. David Taunton, would make history as Alabama’s first students selected by Harvard Medical School for an internship and postgraduate training in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard’s primary teaching hospital.

Copeland’s advice for students interested in the medical field is, “While learning science is critical in medicine, it’s important for students to really understand the human nature of the profession. Success is understanding, knowing and appreciating people. They all have a story.”

“I stay involved and have had several wonderful experiences working with minority students. I try to emphasize understanding life and understanding people. Competence with the sciences is a given; there’s a lot more than that to being successful and feeling good about it.”

Hear more about Copeland’s journey in medicine from an intimate conversation with Dr. Larry Wit, associate dean and professor emeritus.