The next cut: Vaughan begins as GRMC’s new surgeon

Doctor Steven Vaughan became Graham’s second general surgeon and will work next to Doctor Donald Behr after starting at Graham Regional Medical Center this past week.

Vaughan comes to Graham from Tucson, Ariz., where he ran a private practice for 18 years. Vaughan had his medical training at the University of Arizona and surgery training at Texas Tech University-El Paso, where he was chief resident in his final year.

“After that I went to do my colorectal training in Pennsylvania and right in the middle my mom, we knew she had cancer, but she was starting to go the other way,” Vaughan said. “Rather than stay and finish the fellowship (I went home) Right when I got home, my mom passed away within a couple days. My sisters were young, so I decided to stay home and take care of my little sisters, get them finished and financially through college.”

Vaughan said he got into surgery based off a recommendation from a friend.

“Nobody in my family had been in medicine,” he said. “At the time I was doing well in school, knowing I wanted to do something. I think I was just drawn to it because there was no (family) history there. A football coach of mine was an anesthesiology resident while coaching. So the summer I graduated, I went to visit him in California and we just talked and he said ‘Steve, you’re a surgeon’ and that’s when I really started pursuing it.”

Vaughan said he was drawn to Graham because growing up his grandparents lived in Amarillo where he spent every other summer.

For the rest of the story, see the Saturday, June 22 edition of The Graham Leader.