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Distinguished Alumni
A Heart That Serves
EPIDEMIOLOGIST AND COLLEGIATE ALUMNUS DISPLAYS EXCELLENCE AND CARE FOR COUGAR COMMUNITY
By Weldon Bradshaw
Make no mistake: COVID-19 is the enemy and a brazen one, an invisible aggressor that has become a scourge of the third decade of the 21st century.
Dr. Leroy B. Vaughan Jr. — “Bo” to his friends — understands this quite well.
As head epidemiologist at the Richmond’s Hunter Holmes McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the 1997 Collegiate School graduate has played a prominent role in managing the pandemic not just at his facility but at his alma mater as well.
Creating policy, offering counsel and treating patients with professional and compassionate care have been a labor of love. His specialty — infectious diseases — is a true calling. The challenges, overwhelming at times, never deter him. The teamwork enriches him. The successes bring him immense satisfaction.
“I’m fighting this unseen microbial world,” he says. “I’m engaged in this battle that’s very real. I’ve always enjoyed it. Somebody can come into the hospital with a good chance of dying, and we can almost completely turn that around within a couple of days. That’s a big-time attraction for any doctor. I have to be honest. We have good days and bad days, but the efforts we put forth aren’t burdensome because I love what I do.” Vaughan’s pursuit of a medical career began when he was quite young.
“The genesis of my attraction to being a doctor really started early,” he says. “I had a couple of surgeries when I was a kid so I was around a lot of doctors. If you have stars in your life, physicians were mine. Going through Collegiate, I always had an affinity for sciences, especially the health sciences. That continued through college. It was always an undergirding of my studies that I wanted to be a doctor.”
Vaughan found mentors on North Mooreland Road, among them Ann Griffin and Stephanie Bensinger-Franz.
“Mrs. Griffin’s AP biology class was hard,” he recalls. “She said, ‘Don’t fall in love with anybody in your class because it’ll completely derail you. I need all your attention.’ I gave her all my attention. I didn’t fall in love with anybody. Got an A and a 5 (the highest score) on the AP (exam).
“In 8th Grade English, Ms. BensingerFranz taught me to write using an economy of style. That really helped me write scientifically well in a concise, economic way.”
In 2001, Vaughan earned a BS in biology from Washington & Lee, a liberal arts institution where he took a cornucopia of courses including ancient Greek, microeconomics, European short fiction and modern Communist China.
“When I was inside my major, I focused on virology and microbiology,” he says. “The seeds for infectious disease were planted there. There was a magnetism to these topics.”
After W&L, he took a 10-month hiatus and worked as a cook at the Teton Pines Resort in Wilson, Wyo.
“I realized, I’ve got to get real,” he says. “I knew that if I wanted to get into medicine, I couldn’t get sidetracked.”
Back in Richmond, he landed a job in the operating room at St. Mary’s Hospital to gain experience, then began his course of study at the VCU Medical Center in 2004.
“Believe it or not, I thought I might want to be a surgeon, maybe an orthopedic surgeon, strictly because I loved sports,” he says. “I played lacrosse, football, basketball and
soccer at Collegiate. You think you know what you like. Once I got to medical school,
I was quickly recalibrated to early interests at W&L which was essentially infectious diseases.”
He did his internal medicine residency at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore where he worked with giants in the field of infectious disease including Dr. Robert R. Redfield, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. His last year, he served as chief resident. It was there that he met his wife Amanda, who is also a physician. They have two children, Marshall and Rosalie, both Collegiate students.
Vaughan returned to VCU in 2012 for fellowship training in infectious diseases before accepting a position at the VA in 2013.
“I’m a Generation-X guy,” he says. “My parents’ generation is the Vietnam era. My grandparents fought in World War II. I’ve always had this veneration for soldiers and veterans.”
The Richmond VA serves 51,000 veterans in Central Virginia and has 4,200 employees.
“This is not only where I started my infectious disease career as a physician,” he says, “but it’s how I started learning hospital epidemiology: How do you keep infections out of hospitals? How do you keep infections from becoming a problem for patients when they come in for something other than an infection?”
To say that COVID has presented enormous challenges is an understatement.
“We started preparing for COVID in January 2020,” he says. “We knew there was a novel coronavirus that could have pandemic potential. Between January and March when we had our first case, we moved certain assets around to prepare for a surge. We had to accumulate all the clinical information that was available at the time.”
Vaughan directed the establishment of a unit dedicated to COVID patients as well as a drive-through clinic for COVID testing to minimize the risk of the infection entering the facility and affecting patients and employees.
As Collegiate created its infection prevention plans in order to reopen, Vaughan served as a consultant.
“From big decisions to tiny questions, Bo provided insights, careful consideration and a true partnership,” says Penny Evins, Head of School. “Along with Dr. Carolyn Port (P ’21, ’23), texts, calls and emails were answered and gave me the courage and optimism to stay the course we thoughtfully crafted in partnership with colleagues, volunteers and professionals.
“Knowing that so many school communities nationwide had questions and concerns, Bo agreed to serve as an expert medical advisor to NAIS on a Zoom call with hundreds of schools attending. He willingly partnered on behalf of children, educators and the future needs of our evolving world. His leadership on a faculty/ staff Zoom regarding vaccinations with Dr. Richard Jackson (P ’17, ’19) provided facts and a calming presence.
“Bo models our core values of excellence and integrity. His gratitude to Collegiate inspired him to help us when he was spread thin. His reverence for Collegiate inspired us to dig deep and carefully continue to focus on our mission delivery during the complexities of the pandemic.”
Vaughan never doubted that with proper protocols, Collegiate could open in person and remain so.
“I was convinced,” he says, “because I’d seen it in hospitals. By not opening, you create a chain reaction of many other non-infectious negative complications. Schools are not major places of transmission when you have prevention practices in place. I think Collegiate’s plan has been pretty successful.”
Editor’s Note: Dr. Meera Pahuja ’97 has joined Dr. Bo Vaughan ’97 and Dr. Carolyn Port on the Collegiate School medical advisory team for the 2021-22 year. We are grateful for their service.
On the day her family convened at Sanders Retirement Village in Gloucester to celebrate her 100th birthday, Betty Ratcliffe Marshall had one special request.
“Will you all sing Hail Collegiate! with me?” she asked.
Those in attendance readily complied, of course, and as the words flowed, her beaming countenance reflected her delight.
That was March 8, 2020, a COVID-lifetime ago.
Since then, she’s navigated the trying times quite well thanks to her positive attitude and indefatigable nature, celebrated yet another birthday and emerged sharp as ever with a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye.
“One hundred and one, still not done, still having fun,” she said with a laugh, which should give you a glimpse into the personality and spirit of the 1938 Collegiate School for Girls graduate for whom the passage of years hasn’t dimmed one iota her love for her alma mater.
If anything, in fact, it’s made her experiences at 1619 Monument Avenue more than eight decades ago all that more meaningful and her recollections of time spent with schoolmates and faculty more resonant, and, truth be told, poignant.
“I have many fond memories,” said Collegiate’s oldest living alumna.
When asked to cite a couple of them, she began, well, at the very beginning.
“Are you ready?” she asked.
By Weldon Bradshaw
COLLEGIATE SCHOOL’S OLDEST LIVING COUGAR REFLECTS ON THE VALUES THAT LAST A LIFETIME
Absolutely, I responded, then settled in for a trip through the archives of the institution just five years older than she.
“I was born at 2225 Monument Avenue and lived there 27 years,” she said. “I walked to Collegiate School for Girls. Sometimes, I would roller skate three blocks to School on those old skates that had a key. The School at that time consisted of two buildings. One was a house that was converted into the Lower School. There was a space between it and the other house that was converted into the Upper School.
“We had to attend chapel every morning from 9 to 9:30 with different ministers. I particularly remember Dr. Cary Montague, who was Episcopalian, and Dr. J. Blanton Belk, who was a Presbyterian minister. His church (Grace Covenant) was only about three houses away from the School.”
Mrs. Marshall attended Collegiate for three years from 1935 through 1938.
“I remember Miss Harriet Montague, who taught me English, and Miss (Mary Denmead) Ruffin, who taught history,” she continued. “And we had a really good French teacher (Juliet Lee Woodson).”
Why do they stand out? I inquired.
“They taught good lessons,” she responded. “I thought it was a wonderful education. But I was more interested in sports, and maybe some boys at the time. We had four sports: hockey, basketball, tennis and archery. If you lettered in all four, you were given what was called an all-around letter which was sewn on your green sweater.” The Monument Avenue site was landlocked, so much of the athletic program, she noted, occurred elsewhere.
“When we played hockey,” the former starting right halfback said, “we were sent by taxi over to the seminary (Union Presbyterian Seminary) in northern Richmond where they had a field. I was captain of the team that year (’37-’38). Proud of that. One thing…we beat St. Catherine’s, the other girls school.”
Basketball practice, she said, took place on the roof of the classroom building. Games were contested at several venues around town. Since there were no tennis facilities on the premises, practices occurred on borrowed courts, and matches were always on the road. Archery — hard to imagine today — took place in the close quarters between the classroom buildings.
Mrs. Marshall was well liked and respected by her classmates. An inscription beside her senior picture in the ’38 Torch referenced her as “Captain Ratcliffe…taking charge of all activities…playing for the love of the game… fair and honest…winning all hearts by her ability to be a good sport...laugh it all off and stay always happy.”
For many years, she attended reunions and stayed in touch with her classmates.
“I’ve been the last one in my class for a long time,” she said. “You miss all the people that are your age.”
When Mrs. Marshall attended Collegiate, America was emerging from the Great Depression, but there were rumblings of unrest that would lead to World War II. In her mind, Collegiate just carried on.
“I don’t think my family would let me worry about things like that,” she said. “I thought Collegiate was very special.”
Betty and Beverley Randolph Wellford Marshall, a World War II veteran and for many years an attorney for Traveler’s Insurance Company, were married for 56 years until his passing in 2001.
She’s lived in Gloucester for 61 years, including the last nine in her retirement community where her vibrancy and engaging nature have endeared her to residents, staff members and everyone else within her circle of friends.
The Marshalls have three sons, two grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. Their great nieces, Anne Ratcliffe Chamblee ’80 and Cathy Ratcliffe Plageman ’82, are Collegiate graduates, as are Cathy’s daughters Carolyn ’12, Frances ’14 and Julia ’17.
As we concluded our conversation, I commented that though Collegiate is a much different place than it was in her day, the time-honored values of honor, loyalty, sportsmanship and love of learning exist still and hopefully always will. I trust that it gives you a great measure of satisfaction, I added, that your generation — the Greatest Generation — played a vital role in ensuring that those values were ingrained in the school’s culture.
“I certainly agree with that,” she responded. “Very much so.”
