Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
As a teen growing up in Green Bank, Shari Vance decided she wanted to be a doctor.
After graduating from Pocahontas County High School in 1986, she pursued that dream and made it a reality.
“I went to Virginia Tech, starting out in biology and pre-med,” she said. “At one point, I decided I didn’t really want to go to school forever and dabbled in education a little bit and ended up going back to being a doctor.”
Vance returned to college – four years of medical school at West Virginia University, as well as three years of residency at WVU in family medicine.
By 1997, she was practicing in Parkersburg at Camdem Clark Medical Center, which is now WVU Medicine Camden Clark Medical Center.
Vance started her family practice at Camden Clark and has moved up the ranks through the years. She is now chief medical officer and vice president of medical staff affairs, while also continuing to see patients.
“I have a half day clinic a week, so I see about twelve patients a week,” she said. “I also precept residents a half day a month. We have an internal medicine residency.”
Vance has enjoyed the opportunities to advance her career at Camden Clark, adding that she is glad she can still see patients while taking on the administrative side at the hospital.
“I’d been primary medical care director for about two years prior to taking this job, so I really enjoyed the administrative part of it and the ability to have a bigger impact on medicine in our community,” she said. “That’s what this job gave me the opportunity to do.
“I am one of about six vice presidents of Camden, so all of us have the responsibility of operating and managing and leading the hospital,” she added.
The hospital has 2,000 employees, with 500 doctors on the medical staff – 250 of which are on-site.
In her time in Parkersburg, Vance said she has not only grown her practice and career at the hospital, but she has also become part of the community.
“Geographically it’s a great place to live,” she said. “I can get to where my parents are in about three hours so that’s an easy trip. It also offers the outdoor activities I like such as golf and biking and those types of things.
“I’m pretty much ingrained in the community here.”
Although she didn’t come back to Pocahontas County to practice medicine, Vance said it definitely gave her the opportunities and foundation to pursue her dream.
“I took advantage of the opportunities that were available to me,” she said. “I did a next-ternship. I followed one of the local doctors as part of the gifted class. I think the science background I got there was excellent. Of course, my parents always instilled that you just need to find out what you really want to do and do it.
“I think the foundation of who I am certainly came from my experiences in Pocahontas County and growing up where I did with who I grew up with,” she added.
Being the child of two educators at PCHS also gave Vance a unique connection to the school and its employees. Those of us who had parents who taught at the school had a support system like no other.
“All those people who influenced me, like my parents and your parents [Ted Stewart and Linda Stewart], and all those wonderful teachers we had like the Burns [Mike and Mary Sue] and all that,” she said. “We grew up at that school. We were there all the time, and everybody knew who we were and it was a really supportive atmosphere. We were really fortunate.”
It wasn’t just PCHS that left an impression on Vance, but vice versa. When she was a student there, Vance was a star basketball player and even set a school record in 1985 for most points scored in a game at 36.
That record held until 2011 when Chloe Bland, who is now assistant principal at Green Bank Elementary-Middle School, scored 38 points in a game.
“I was actually in the gym the night she broke it,” Vance said. “Just by happenstance.”
Vance continues to use basketball as an outlet and has a hoop in her driveway at home. After a stressful day, she’ll shoot some baskets to clear her mind.
This article is part of a series about PCHS graduates who left the county to pursue their careers.
If you know a graduate you would like to be featured, please email sastewart@pocahontastimes.com