JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) — More than 50 years later, the first Black woman to graduate from the Medical University of South Carolina is still putting her education and experience to work, helping people live healthier lives.

A legacy of living history

Dr. Rose Delores Gibbs, who will turn 80 this year, graduated from MUSC in 1973. After a long career in the Lowcountry and around the world, she retired, but her passion for people keeps her serving the community.

“Now she had an MRI on her neck,” Dr. Gibbs said.

It’s a typical morning at Angel Oak Family Medicine on Johns Island. Dr. Gibbs serves as medical director at Angel Oak, providing patient expertise to the clinic’s owner, Dr. Jackie Baer.

“So, one of the things is that Dr. Gibbs, whenever I have hard to deal with patients, you know, she’s the one that’s had 50-plus years of experience. So, she’ll come in here and look at the charts and would help me kind of figure out, you know, what’s next to do,” Dr. Baer said.

Making history at MUSC

Dr. Gibbs is living history. In 1973, she became the first Black woman to graduate from the Medical University of South Carolina.

“My journey actually started when I was a little girl. There was an African-American doctor in Berkeley County, Moncks Corner by the name of Dr. Walter Evans,” Dr. Gibbs said.

She took notice of the important role Dr. Evans played in the community, working as team physician for Berkeley High School athletes, and caring for families in the area.

“I also developed rheumatic fever as a child and Dr. Evans referred me to the medical university heart clinic. I would go to the heart clinic monthly and I was always interested in what the nurses and the doctors were wearing and what they were doing and what they were writing,” Dr. Gibbs said.

Just months after the hospital strike in 1969, she enrolled at MUSC. And just like Black employees, she, as a student, also faced discrimination and unfair conditions.

“Yes, I did. Yes, I did. But you know, I’m always one who would not let challenges define me. But when those issues came up, I didn’t deal with them. I decided, well, hey, look,push it aside and stay focused. I tried to keep myself focused on what I knew I had to do to pass my courses,” Dr. Gibbs said.

Taking her skills overseas

“I joined the U.S. Peace Corps and went to Freetown, Sierra Leone, for two years as the Peace Corps medical officer in Freetown and in Liberia, the neighboring country.”

She became the first Black woman to serve as the Peace Corps chief medical officer. In that role, she was responsible for the health care of Peace Corps volunteers in 55 countries. She spent six years with the Peace Corps.

A hard lesson back home

Working in a foreign country had its challenges, but she found some of her most difficult work back home in Moncks Corner after she opened her own family practice, Berkeley Medical Center, in 1986.

“Breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, uncontrolled diabetes, uncontrolled hypertension, different kinds of skin rashes,” Dr. Gibbs said.

The overwhelming number of people coming to her with serious issues quickly made her realize she had to take a different approach to health care.

She worked with about a dozen community leaders to form the Concerned Citizens for Better Health. Their job was to teach people how to be proactive for their own well-being.

“There were two people from each community, and we taught them, gave them blood pressure cuffs, gave them kits to check sugars. We taught them how to check blood pressure. We gave them brochures to give to people, to leave in their churches to talk about signs and symptoms of colon cancer, signs and symptoms of lung cancer,” Dr. Gibbs said.

Still serving — and still teaching

For more than 30 years, she ran her own practice, and now she is using her experience to help guide health care services delivered by Dr. Baer for underserved patients on Johns Island.

“And one of the greatest lessons I learned from Dr. Gibbs was to be a good listener and listen to people’s stories and oftentimes when you listen to the stories, they’ll tell you, you know, what’s wrong with them,” Dr. Baer said.

Dr. Gibbs is not only leaving a legacy of care and compassion, she’s also paying it forward. An endowed scholarship in her name is helping to pay medical school tuition for underrepresented students attending the medical university.

She also leaves this advice for the next generation of doctors and caregivers as they face adversity in their quest to fulfill their dreams.

“Take it as a challenge because it is, but let a challenge become your strength. Because you know it’s a challenge, it’s difficult, but make it your strength. Work at it,” Dr. Gibbs said.

Copyright 2026 WCSC. All rights reserved.