Outstanding Alumni Award
When Robert Reid was a child, his father was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer. During visits to the hospital, Reid saw the care and attention the nurses gave his father. Their dedication was one reason he decided on a career in nursing when he was in high school.
Reid earned an ADN and later a BSN from USC Upstate. Today, he is a nurse practitioner in North Carolina, but he’s also worked in travel nursing, clinical instruction and nursing informatics.
While enrolled in a post-graduate degree program at Duke, Reid was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disorder that attacks the motor and sensory systems.
With the assistance of his advisor and support of his family, he completed his degree in 2023. He says the experience helped him identify with patients and made him mentally and emotionally stronger: “It taught me self-reflection, more self-actualization, more empathy.”
Reid enjoys mentoring future nurses through a group affiliated with his college fraternity. He is also the mentorship chair on Upstate’s newly formed Black Alumni Council.
He stays involved at Upstate, he says, because “the faculty and staff poured into me so much. I always tell people, I was raised in Lancaster, South Carolina, but I grew up at USC Spartanburg.”