Full Circle

Benton native to provide medical care at area hospital

When he was child, Richard Spencer-Cole watched as his grandmother, the late Twaila Richardson, receive medical care at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. This experience along with his own health issues have influenced him to pursue a career in the medical field. Now, his life is coming full circle as he will work as a resident physician at the same hospital where his grandmother received treatment.

Richardson was diagnosed with thyroid cancer when Spencer-Cole was 4 or 5 years old. He would often care for his grandmother as a way to give back for the care she gave to him.

“The doctors that she had were always nice, kind and respectful. They always listened to her every need,” he said.

Richardson died when Spencer-Cole was only 8 years old.

“It was very devastating to me, but one thing it kind of led me to was being a doctor. I do it in her memory,” he said.

Spencer-Cole, a native of Benton, grew up in the Ralph Bunche Community and graduated from Benton High School in 2011.

He then attended Henderson State University with plans to pursue a degree in music education. In his sophomore year of college, he decided music was not the right path for him so he switched to a pre-medicine track.

He graduated in 2016 before attending the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences for medical training. After graduating Saturday, Spencer-Cole will be a resident physician at UAMS hospital in internal medicine beginning July 1.

Spencer-Cole’s connection to the hospital does not only includes his grandmother. He was born at the hospital and was part of several programs there in the Centers for Diversity Affairs

that is now known as the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

He said in those programs he met incredible people and mentors.

Spencer-Cole has several people in his corner cheering him on including his family, friends, mentors and his Johnson Street of Christ Church family.

“They have been with me since the day I was born and have watched me grow up to become the person I am today. They have always stood by my side giving me words of encouragement, wisdom and knowledge for the positive influences they have and their continued support,” he said. “Being able to represent my family, friends, mentors and all of those who have helped me on my journey to become a physician at the one place where it started means something special to me.”

The support he receives helps him through difficult times.

“In times when I feel like the world is against me and I have no one, I can always look to them. They keep me motivated and going and I can go to them for advice,” he said. “Just having that constant positive voice when you are surrounded by negative voices every single day has been great for me.”

Throughout his medical training, Spencer-Cole was able to experience various aspects of the health field. He had the opportunity to shadow a local surgeon at Saline Memorial Hospital, and after interacting with other doctors during his internal medicine rotation, he realized that specialty was right for him.

As a doctor, he hopes to practice locally and give back to the community that has given so much to him, he said, adding that he also wants to help educate other future doctors.

Throughout the COVID19

pandemic he said he never rethought his decision to be a doctor but it did open his eyes to healthcare disparities.

“In my mind, I thought we were helping everybody, but in reality we were isolating several different groups of people,” he said.

Seeing people not being treated fairly makes him want to speak up. There has been situations when, because of his race, he did not receive the same opportunities as others.

That made him look into opportunities for himself and find “mentors who look like me and have gone through it,” he said.

“There are people who don’t want me to succeed. They don’t want me to be anything so I know I have to keep pushing and keep going forward staying positive and staying motivated and staying humble to be able to get through this journey,” he said, adding that this is a difficult topic to talk about, but if people don’t talk about it, it can

never get better.

“We don’t need to go backward. We need to go forward,” he said.

Spencer-Cole said he is extremely excited for this next step in his life. After years of hard work, he hopes to make his family proud. He is the son of Ann Spencer-Cole and the late Aboise Spencer-Cole. His grandfather is Terry Richardson.

Spencer-Cole is one of four Saline County students who will continue their medical training as student doctors at UAMS. Other students include Dolapo Adejumobi, Gray Matthew Orman and Mason Speir.