Crimson and Gold Connection; Dr. Holly Cranston

Welcome to Crimson & Gold Connection. My name is Dustin Triber and today's guest is Dr. Holly Cranston, who has been selected as one of this year's Pittsburgh State University Outstanding Alumni. Dr. Cranston, thank you so much for coming in today and please tell us a little bit about yourself and what first brought you to Pittsburgh State University and what you've been doing since then. Thank you for having me. So I am a native of this area I grew up in Cherokee, Kansas and attended Pittsburgh State University after graduating from Columbus High School. I knew that I wanted to be a physician when I was a little kid, growing up, my mom took care of my grandpa who was quite ill and I knew that I wanted to take care of the elderly. So when I went to KU Medical School, I ended up doing a family medicine residency and then a fellowship in geriatric medicine. My husband and I decided that we wanted to be close to family so we decided to move back to Pittsburgh because we both had great experiences here, me growing up and him as a student at Pitt State. So we decided we wanted to come back home and start a practice. Now you attended Pittsburgh State University and graduated in 1998.

Yes. And with a degree in premed? Yes, so BS in biology and minor in chemistry. Can you tell us about some of your time at Pitt State? My actual first experience was when I was just a fresh graduate from high school. I took a chemistry class and knew that I loved the field, had an excellent experience and was actually in the Honors College and had some wonderful friends in the Honors College. I did a lot of faith-based activities here at the college as well with BSU or Crossquest with my sister who was a couple years older than iOS. We did several ski trips with Mike Trent who was in charge of Crossquest at the time and had a great fun getting to know some of the other people who were also Christians at the University who were a part of the Crossquest group. As a member of the Honors College, we did several different activities on campus as well. One of my favorite memories at PSU is the football games.

Sometimes I would have been in the football games with my sister and sometimes I would actually be in the Human Anatomy and Dissection Lab with cadavers, hearing the multiple cannon blasts as a PSU was making touchdown after touchdown while I was studying for an exam in my Human Anatomy class. And hopefully the cannon blasts didn't make your hands unsteady during these cadavers. No, no, it did not. When I graduated from PSU after getting into medical school at KU, I'd come down to campus and visit with some of the professors frequently. I actually did a few talks when I came back from medical school. I would come back and talk to some of the different professors who were still teaching at the time and actually got to talk to a couple of the pre-med classes while I was in medical school which was a great experience. Before we move on to more of your current activities professionally and otherwise, why are some of the things you would say to potential students who would maybe come to Pittsburgh

State University in the medical field? So I had mentioned previously that I was an Honors College student. Part of what Dreamy to Pitt State was the excellent reputation that they had for academics as well as their pre-med program. Pittsburgh State University has an excellent reputation for kind of matriculation of students into the medical field, be it nursing with their nurse practitioner program or pharmacy with a pre-pharmacy program. Their pre-medicine program is an excellent program. Pittsburgh State University has quite a high number of students who get into medical school every year. While I was there, there were probably about five or six other students from Pittsburgh State University who had applied and were in medical school in my class and there were about that number the year before who had gotten in and their anatomy and physiology, their chemistry prepares you excellently for the intensity that you're going to see when you get into the medical school.

And the staff and faculty, they help you seek out where you will go after Pitt State as a correct? Yes. A lot of the professors that I had had while I was in school have since retired, which I guess says a lot about how long I've been out of school, but the current administration and the current staff who are assisting the pre-med students are excellent at helping you to figure out the best fit for you as far as a medical school is concerned. Now after Pittsburgh State University, you moved on to KU? Yes. In Kansas City, where in the medical school is, I moved up to Kansas City, kind of drew a lottery for a roommate in medical school, which was a new experience for me, because I lived at home during my time at Pitt State. So I moved up to Kansas City and went through all four years in Kansas City. I met my husband actually while I was down here in Pittsburgh, and he got an excellent job up in Kansas City. So we married and decided at that time that we would seek residency programs in Kansas

City, and I got a residency slot with family medicine at the Kansas City campus, and did all three years there, decided that I did want to do an extra training in geriatric medicine, so I did a fellowship in geriatric medicine for another year. And then we decided we were going to strike out on our own and hang our shingle on a building and start a new practice. Very nice. And you've been in Pittsburgh with your own practice since 2007? Yes. My husband and I started a private practice in 2007. He did the business side of it, and I did the medical side of it, and we did kind of everything that you're not supposed to do. The first year that you started your job, we moved, we started a business, and then I got pregnant with our second child, and we somehow made it through with the help of wonderful family and the support of the community. And nowadays, what are some of the things that you do to help the community of Pittsburgh again, Pittsburgh State University?

My clinic has expanded quite a bit since I first started. I started out just myself and a part-time secretary, and in about six months I hired a nurse, and we've expanded beyond that. It's not just myself. I have two nurse practitioners that work in my clinic. We've actually purchased an office building and have expanded the business fairly significantly in the past almost nine years that we've been here. I've volunteered at several different places, as well as, I guess, I'm associate staff helping with Pittsburgh State University for being a mentor for the nurse practitioner students that come through the office and need clinical hours. And these are just a few of the many reasons why you were selected as being outstanding alumni for Pittsburgh State University. Dr. Holly Cranston, thank you so much for coming in, and again, thank you so much for everything you do for both the community of Pittsburgh and for Pittsburgh State University. I'm Dustin Triber.

This is Crimson and Gold Connection.