Physician Profile:
Leslie J. Pollard of CPC-Evans
Most of Les
Pollard’s major decisions have had one common denominator — family. From his
first inkling of interest in becoming a doctor to his most recent move back
to Augusta to practice medicine at CPC, his family has always played a
pivotal role.
Despite growing up in a family of teachers, Les was never drawn to teaching
as a profession. His father, Les Sr., is a history professor at Paine
College, his mother Brenda, taught music at Lucy Laney High School for 25
years, and their uncle Lester is an English professor at Augusta State
University. Instead, another family member provided the inspiration for his
choice of medicine as a career. “My grandmother had bone cancer when I was
very young and I think that triggered my interest in becoming a doctor,” Dr.
Pollard explains.
Even so, the educators in his family made their mark as well. They nurtured
in young Les an interest in community service, leadership, and learning. As
a teenager, he was a volunteer counselor at the day camp at Augusta State
University, where he helped supervise children’s activities. Later, his
interests turned more toward academics. The first of these was the Student
Educational Enrollment Program (SEEP) at the Medical College of Georgia.
SEEP is a minority-oriented program designed to generate interest in science
and medicine, and that’s exactly what it did for Les.
After graduating from Westside High School in Augusta, Les chose Xavier
University, a private Catholic college in New Orleans, because it was a good
fit for his personal and professional interests. “At the time, Xavier had
only 1500 students, a strong pre-med program, and the nation’s 2nd highest
percentage of black graduates admitted to medical school,” Les explains. He
was further influenced by
Xavier being a historically black college and by the school’s conservatism
set against the colorful big-city atmosphere of New Orleans.
Les took advantage of many social and educational opportunities available to
him during college. In addition to being a Minority Access to Research
Scholar, he became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, a national social
and community service organization, in which he has remained active as an
alumnus. During summers, he did research at MCG, the National Institutes of
Health in Bethesda, and the University of Maryland in College Park. Although
Les considers his lab experience invaluable to his education, perhaps the
most important thing he learned was that he did not want a career in medical
research.
For medical school, Les again chose a small, Southern, historically black
institution in a large metropolitan setting. “I liked the small class size
at Morehouse (in Atlanta) because it was more one-on-one versus a big
university where you don’t get to know your professors,” he explains. While
a student at Morehouse, he started the Family Medicine Interest Group.
It
was during Les’s third year in med school that his uncle suggested a blind
date with a young lady named Tammy Luke, an Augusta native and counselor at
Charter Hospital. Despite the usual trepidation one might have about blind
dates, Les called Tammy and there was soon little doubt that the two were as
good a match as his uncle imagined. In 1993, when Les graduated from
Morehouse School of Medicine, he and Tammy married in a large ceremony at
the Paine College chapel and began their life together.
Les realized during med school that he wanted to be a family physician. “I
considered other specialties but doing just one thing was boring to me,” he
explains. “A family doctor cares for all family members, gets to know
several generations, sees babies from the beginning, and watches them grow
and develop.” It also allows for a better understanding of the family and
its impact on each person’s well-being. “You get to know the ins and outs of
a family and how each member integrates with the others,” and that, he
believes, enables him to provide better care for everyone.
Les and Tammy made their first home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where
Les completed his internship and residency in family medicine at the
University of North Carolina. “I liked the university setting and what it
had to offer,” he says. “Some universities are either research or academic
institutions but this one enabled me to prepare for private practice.”
Dr. Pollard had several opportunities to join groups in small Georgia towns,
but he eventually decided to settle in Statesboro. “I wanted to go to a
small town where I could really make a difference,” he said, and Statesboro
was close enough to Augusta for frequent visits with their parents. The
closeness factor became even more important when the couple found out they
were expecting twins. Brooke and Leslie were born in August 1997, followed
by Christina two years later.
Dr. Pollard originally planned to settle permanently in Statesboro, but
there were drawbacks to being in solo practice. “”You’re always on duty and
it’s hard to take time off, even when you’re away,” he explains. When the
Pollards were on family vacations, he would usually call the office twice a
day and was always accessible by phone or pager.
Add to that the time-consuming business demands. “It can be tough because
you have to handle everything yourself.” Tammy helped a great deal in the
office, but competing family and practice demands made working with a group
all the more appealing. They also wanted to be closer to extended family.
The Center for Primary Care seemed to be a perfect match for the Pollard
family on many levels. Besides enjoying working with the other physicians at
CPC, Dr. Pollard values CPC’s administrative support , the camaraderie of a
physicians’ group, and the luxury of not always being on call. The proximity
of family is another plus. “We have two sets of grandparents in Augusta so
there’s lots of support,” he says, “and there’s much more for our family to
do in Augusta.”
Being devoted to his patients, it was difficult for Dr. Pollard to leave the
Statesboro practice. “It was a tough decision because I care for my
patients,” he says, but ultimately, he had to do what was best for his
family. Dr. Pollard began seeing patients at CPC-Central on July 1, some of
whom are from Statesboro and chose to stay with him despite the travel
distance.
The Pollards have come full circle now and are back raising their own
children in Augusta where they grew up, a city Dr. Pollard describes as big
but with a familiar, comfortable small-town feel. As we welcome Dr. Pollard
back to Augusta, we hope he will feel equally “at home” with the Center for
Primary Care.
