Alumni Highlights
Health Sciences Center Only School to Offer Alumnus
Opportunity
to Pursue Dream
Mark Scioli, M.D. (SOM ’82), had dreamed of being a doctor since
he was a small child. He knew this was his destination in life. However,
in 1973, a year before he was to enter college, Scioli was injured
in a hunting accident. A friend was unloading a high-powered rifle
when it accidentally discharged, sending a bullet into Scioli’s
lower abdomen and lodging in his spine.
The accident left him unable to walk without the use of braces and crutches. For many, this would have been the end of a dream; but to Scioli, it was the beginning of a challenge to make his dream a reality.
His first year at Texas Tech University was very difficult because he had not completely recovered from the accident. But he was committed and completed his degree in four years earning a Bachelor of Arts in zoology, with a minor in chemistry. Texas Tech University School of Medicine, the only school that would accept him with his disability, allowed him to continue the pursuit of his dream.
Scioli finished medical school, seventh in his class, and received the Gold Headed Cane Award. This is the only award given at commencement and it represents the highest recognition a graduate of the School of Medicine can receive. The recipient assumes the responsibility of carrying on a tradition of the highest standards of patient care, professional integrity and personal commitment.
Because of his disability, Scioli was not accepted anywhere for an orthopedic residency program. However, he was offered a residency for the Health Science Center’s internal medicine program, which he accepted. He completed one year and reapplied for an orthopedic residency and this time was accepted at Texas Tech University School of Medicine in El Paso, working under Raymond Bragg.
After completing the four-year internship in El Paso, he was selected for a fellowship at The Center for Orthopaedic Care Inc. in Cincinnati, working under G. James Sammarco, M.D. He returned to Lubbock in 1988 and established his private practice, the Center for Orthopaedic Surgery, with an emphasis on foot and ankle surgery.
Today, Scioli serves as Covenant Medical Center’s section chief of Orthopaedic Surgery and is currently the associate clinical professor for the Department of Orthopaedics for the Health Sciences Center School of Medicine in Lubbock and El Paso. As an alumnus, Scioli continues to give back to the School of Medicine through his dedicated teaching, lectures and presentations. His accomplishments and service to his profession, the School of Medicine and his patients are monumental.
Scioli was among those listed in The Best Doctors in America from 1998 through 2004. He also was selected in 2004 by Texas Monthly magazine as a Texas Super Doctor. In addition to these awards of excellence, Scioli is a life member of the National Registry of Who’s Who and holds membership and distinction in numerous professional organizations.
“I will forever be grateful to Texas Tech University and the Health Sciences Center for providing me the opportunity to become what I always dreamed to be … a doctor,” Scioli says. “Giving something back is not only a joy to me, but also in my mind a never-ending thank you to those who have taught me and to the institution that I truly love.”
Judith Tiner