1190. 45 Years in Medicine and Still Makes Time for Other Passions

“I came from a poor southern family. I had to go to college on loans and scholarships and work at all kinds of jobs, while a lot of the other students drove cars, even had Corvettes, and they wore suits and ties to class every day. I didn’t own a suit. I had one tie, one bowtie and a shirt, but no suit.

“Despite challenges, when I got into med school, it was even better than anything I could imagine. Every day was a new adventure because you learn about all these different diseases and study the human body. Studying all of this was very intriguing. As a child I just wanted to have this skill to be able to help people. You see someone that is sick and think about if you could cure them or help them get cured or give them the right advice–that seemed like an amazing and very powerful thing.

“In my first month as an anesthesiologist, I had to handle a patient myself that came into the hospital with stab wounds in his neck.  He worked at a fast food restaurant that got robbed. He needed a breathing tube inserted because of all the blood. It took me four or five tries, but I got it in. This gave me a sense of accomplishment and also a sense of pride and a good feeling that I saved a life–despite that it had also been dramatic and terrifying.

“All through my years as an anesthesiologist, anytime somebody came in and was about to lose their life, and you managed to save that person, it was a very gratifying experience.”

Dr. Otto E. Stallworth, an anesthesiologist and then a cosmetic surgeon, was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama during the 1940s, fifties and sixties. He crossed the Alabama state line for the first time at sixteen to attend college and was the first college graduate in his family. This was followed by a medical degree at 24 and later an MBA outside of medicine.

He has had several businesses, including Oh Yes! Management and Hollywood Fries Restaurant. In 2022, he began the Stallworth Oh Yes! Foundation, which has awarded four-year full scholarships to students at Howard University and Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, his alma maters. His memoir was published in 2023 and look soon for his first murder mystery.