James and Laura GilliamSince graduating from Baylor College of Medicine’s Physician Assistant Program in 1974, James (“Jim”) Gilliam’s sense of adventure has taken him around the world. To further the educational mission of the College for “taking a chance” on him, he and his wife, Laura, decided to make a planned gift.
By including Baylor in their estate plans, the couple became members of the Jaworski Society, a group of alumni and friends who wish to leave a legacy that advances knowledge, scientific discovery and patient care.
Now retired, Jim spends his time writing and finishing a law degree from the University of London. Via phone from his home in Warwick, N.Y., he admitted that a profession in the medical field was not his first choice. He envisioned himself working in law enforcement or as an attorney. However, Jim’s life took a detour just before his 14th birthday when he ran away from Port Isabel, Texas, seeking excitement in New Orleans.
Jim later joined the United States Coast Guard and enrolled in pre-med courses, ultimately completing his under-graduate degree at the University of Houston (UH). While working in the UH Student Health Center, he heard about Baylor’s then brand new Physician Assistant Program. Intrigued by the prospect of being among the first of a new type of healthcare provider, he applied.
Jim says he wasn’t initially accepted. Then a spot opened up. “I was the last one to be let into the Baylor Physician Assistant Program’s second cohort,” he said.
Jim recalls having a fantastic and intellectually stimulating experience at the College. In particular, he remembers hearing Dr. Christian Bernard speak to Baylor students about performing the world’s first heart transplant. Little did Jim know that he eventually would assist in the second ever living donor heart transplant as Chief Physician Assistant of Cardiovascular Surgery at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia.
Retirement has not slowed Jim down. In 2008, he began drafting his first novel, “Point Deception,” while working as a physician assistant on a Navy Military Sealift Command ship off the Kuwaiti coast. After retiring in 2010, he was able to devote more time to writing. “Point Deception” won the Texas Association of Authors’ 2012 Best Fiction Award and a 2013 Beverly Hills Book Award. After finishing his law degree, he said he wants to open a legal clinic for the underserved.
The education Jim received at Baylor opened the door to a rewarding career during which he travelled extensively, contributed to medical journals and textbooks and met his wife of 38 years. The decision to make a planned gift to the College was an easy one for the Gilliams. “Once we decided on this course of action, the mechanics were simple and the staff was extremely helpful,” said Jim. When asked about what advice he had for those considering a bequest to the College, he said, “Once you decide to pay it forward to the Baylor ideal, don’t wait. Act now.”