Everett L. Dargan, M.D. was a surgeon, educator and role model whose medical skills impacted thousands of lives. He inspired and mentored scores of physicians and health care professionals over the course of his career.
A native of Columbia, South Carolina, at the age of 15, Dargan received a scholarship to Morehouse College in Atlanta. He later graduated from the University of Buffalo and earned his medical degree from Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C. After completing his internship in Brooklyn, New York, he began his residency in general surgery at the Albert Einstein College of medicine in the Bronx, New York. Dargan’s training was paused when he was called to active duty during the Korean War. He rose to the rank of captain and served as commander of the 3910th USAF Hospital at Royal Air Force Base Mildenhall/Lakenheath in Suffolk, England. Following his discharge from the armed services, Dargan completed his medical training in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at Boston University Medical Center. He returned to New York to become an associate professor of surgery at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and director of surgery at Lincoln Hospital and Sydenham Hospital.
Dargan returned home to South Carolina in 1978, where he entered into private practice in thoracic, vascular and general surgery in Columbia and became one of the first African Americans to join the faculty at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Columbia as an associate professor of clinical surgery. He was a former chief of staff at Richland Memorial Hospital and also provided care to veterans at Dorn VA Medical Center for more than two decades.
Dargan retired from active practice in 2004. He was recognized with the Order of the Palmetto, by the Kappa Pi and Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor societies, as a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and, in 2005, received a Congressional tribute from U.S. Congressman James Clyburn. In 2020, Dargan received the Dean’s Distinguished Service Award as a Friend of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine.
Dargan passed away on April 1, 2025. Memorials can be directed to the USC Educational Foundation to fund the scholarship established in Everett’s honor for the benefit of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine to recruit, educate, and retain underrepresented students.
University of South Carolina / Carolina Fund
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