Sherman College names faculty, staff member of the year

Sherman College of Chiropractic recently honored Huarong Zhou, MD, PhD, and Allen Duckworth in appreciation of their contributions, time, and commitment to the college.

Huarong Zhou, MD, PhD

Professor of Basic Sciences Huarong Zhou, MD, PhD, was named Faculty Member of the Year; she is responsible for some of the most challenging coursework offered at Sherman College. “Dr. Zhou is known for maintaining high standards and rigor, but she will go the extra yard for any student who needs help grasping complicated topics in biochemistry and nutrition,” says Vice President for Academic Affairs Joe Donofrio, DC, ’94, ACP. “Biochemistry has always been a challenging topic, but Dr. Zhou has a way of teaching that makes it more digestible.”

Dr. Zhou’s students share Donofrio’s appreciation. “While her classes have been the most difficult ones I have ever taken, I have learned so much,” said one student. “Dr. Zhou cares about whether or not we learn the material and are successful. She takes time to meet with us one-on-one to work through difficult material and explain confusing topics.”

Zhou joined the Sherman College faculty in March 2015. She holds a Ph.D. in immunology from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (2002) and an M.D. from Tongji Medical University (1997). She has published about 30 papers in prestigious peer-reviewed journals and has been invited to give lectures at the world’s most prominent meetings and originations, including the American Diabetes Association’s annual meeting; Kyoto University in Japan; Novo Nordisk in Denmark; Sage Bionetworks in Seattle, and others.

She has received about 10 national research fundings and/or awards from National Natural Science Foundation of China, China-Japan academic exchange programs, Chinese Academy of Sciences-Novo Nordisk joint research project, American Federation for Medical Research and Western Society for Clinical Investigation. At Sherman College, she currently teaches Biochemistry and Nutrition. When she is not teaching, Zhou enjoys hiking and dancing.

Allen Duckworth

Maintenance Supervisor Allen Duckworth was named Staff Member of the Year. “This has been an extremely busy and challenging year for all departments, but especially for our maintenance department, as we took on major campus renovation and construction projects,” says Director of Maintenance and Security Patrick Lausier. “Allen’s key leadership and work ethic were crucial in this year of changes, moves and inconveniences on campus,” he said of Duckworth’s contributions to the college’s progress in 2018.

Duckworth joined the college as maintenance supervisor in October 2017. In his role, he supervises the maintenance team and schedules all preventative maintenance tasks as well as day-to-day job assignments. He also is involved in all capital and improvement projects on campus. Duckworth has lived in Spartanburg all his life; he is married to Angie and has two children, Nick and Ashley. He loves spending time with his family and is an avid South Carolina football fan. He has said that working at Sherman College was one of the best decisions he has ever made and loves being part of “the Sherman family.”

About Sherman College of Chiropractic

Sherman College of Chiropractic provides students with a comprehensive chiropractic education, preparing them to enter the field as doctors of chiropractic who are highly skilled, compassionate, ethical and successful. On its 80-acre campus in South Carolina, Sherman offers a first professional degree program unique in its approach to health care and known globally for the skill and art of chiropractic delivered by graduates. For more information, visit sherman.edu or call 800-849-8771.