Spotlight

Dr. Janice Key

Dr. Janice D. Key

Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC)

Dr. Key has been on MUSC faculty for 34 years, and is a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Pediatrics.  Dr. Key arrived at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) with the task of founding a Division of Adolescent Medicine but has done so much more. Her motivation is overcoming health disparities by providing accessible care as well as community wellness. In that quest she opened the first school-based health center in South Carolina, which is now one of over 50 across the state. That relationship with schools lead to many other roles including long service as the chair of the Charleston County Medical Society School Health Committee, overseeing school nursing including keeping our school district open throughout COVID and establishing a VFC program for schools, and establishing the MUSC Boeing Center for Children’s Wellness that has a school-based wellness initiative in 20 school districts thereby reaching over 165,000 students with outcomes including improved health (BMI and asthma) and school performance (attendance, behavior and graduation). The vision statement of the MUSC Boeing Center for Children’s Wellness summarizes Dr. Key’s purpose, “a South Carolina where all children are healthy, succeed in school and thrive in life.”

Notable achievements:

Dr. Key has received awards from both professional organizations as well as the community. Some examples include:

  • the MUSC Distinguished Service Award and Foundation Population Health Award

  • Special achievement awards from the SC AAP and AAP

  • The SC AAP Career Achievement Award. 

  • She has received recognition from many organizations beyond pediatrics, including the SC School Nurse Association

  • The SC Medical Association

  • The Healthcare Leadership Council, and the mayor of Charleston.

  • She even has an award named in her honor, the Dr. Janice Key School Health Visionary Award.

Dr. Audrey Evans inspires me because of her lifelong service to the whole child and family, going beyond traditional bounds of medical care.  I want my legacy to be improving the life trajectory of all children by reaching them where they are, in schools, and changing the culture of schools to one of wellness.