Getting to know Dr. Meghan Malone
When asked why she became a physician when no one else in her family was in the medical field, Dr. Meghan Malone was quick to answer that it all goes back to her grandfather. She was the youngest of four children. When her mother went back to work after she was born, Dr. Malone’s grandfather became her caregiver while her parents were at work. She said with a smile that they were “thick as thieves.” When she was a teenager, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. She said because it was so difficult to see him go through that, she wanted to fix him, and that is why she decided to become a doctor.
So from the tiny town of Little Falls, New York, she went to Siena College in Albany and then to the University of Buffalo for medical school. When it was time to move on to her residency, she was ready to escape the harsh winters of Upstate New York. Her parents had retired and moved to the Myrtle Beach area, so she looked towards programs in the Southeast. She and her husband, who was her high school sweetheart, moved to Charleston for her residency. While there, she enjoyed the challenges of gastroenterology, studying digestive organs like the liver, colon, and stomach, and chose that as her specialty. After six years in Charleston for her residency and fellowship, she and her husband realized how priceless it was to have her parents available to help out with their children, so the family moved to the Myrtle Beach area. She says it has been amazing to see the number of patients who are also transplants from Upstate New York and the connections she can make with them. She said with a laugh that she may meet someone who knew her school band teacher. She and her husband now have three boys, ages 12, 9, and 5, and as a family, they love to travel and take road trips. They go back to New York several times a year to visit family and vacation often in Florida.
When it comes to her job, Dr. Malone said she enjoys having days where she just sees patients in the office and days where she does procedures in CMC’s Endoscopy Center. One of those procedures is Endoscopic Ultrasound, which can diagnose or stage cancers. She said she knows that can be a really bad moment in her patients’ lives, but if she can help them at all, that’s why she does it. “I love my job. I love taking care of people. I love being part of their story. I feel like I’m totally privileged by them sharing themselves with me,” she said. “I like helping them, just to help them feel better. I wanted my grandfather to feel better, I want them to feel better.”
You can contact Dr. Meghan Malone at CMC Gastroenterology 843-347-6038.
