EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: This story contains discussion about suicide. If you or someone you know is in crisis, help is available by calling 988.<\/p>\n
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) \u2014 The Medical University of South Carolina is honoring the legacy of a doctor whose work helped transform treatment for severe mental illness during its 2026 MIND Conference.<\/p>\n
Dr. Nolan Williams, a Charleston native and MUSC alumnus, died by suicide in October 2025 at age 43. The internationally recognized neuropsychiatrist was known for his research at Stanford. He developed the \u2018Saint Protocall\u2019 when he was at Stanford. <\/p>\n
While most types of brain stimulation for depression take place over weeks and sometimes months, he focused that down to one week which helped many people who don\u2019t respond to other forms of treatment for suicidal behavior.<\/p>\n
\u201cNolan was not only just a local, not just statewide, but an international expert in suicide prevention,\u201d said <\/p>\n
Healthcare workforce faces elevated risks<\/p>\n
Dr. Megan Hays, interim chief wellbeing officer at MUSC, said the healthcare workforce is facing high rates of mental health conditions. She delivered a lecture honoring Williams that highlighted how his work continues helping others today.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was really a pioneer in the area of developing novel and treatments or individuals with mental health conditions like depression and PTSD and was really considered a trailblazer,\u201d Hays said.<\/p>\n
Hays oversees the MUSC Center for Workplace Wellbeing, supporting all 34,000 employees. She said the entire healthcare workforce is at an elevated risk for mental health conditions and suicide compared to the general public.<\/p>\n
About a third of physicians report symptoms of depression and about a quarter report symptoms of anxiety, according to Hays.<\/p>\n
\u201cFemale positions are significantly higher 53% to be exact, have a higher rate of suicide in the United States population compared to the general population or non-physicians,\u201d Hays said.<\/p>\n
She said female nurses are about twice as likely to die by suicide than the general population.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t really understand what it\u2019s like to be in healthcare unless you\u2019re in it. That being said, I do think there\u2019s increasing awareness and the issues in terms of mental health and the pressures of mental health on our healthcare workforce that are connected to light,\u201d Hays said.<\/p>\n
Conference aims to create systemic change<\/p>\n
Health professionals filled the Gilliard Center to share the latest innovations in neurology and advance research with the goal of creating life-saving change.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to discuss where systems across South Carolina and beyond can better support the mental health and well-being of our healthcare workforce,\u201d Hays said.<\/p>\n
She said that support will better enable healthcare workers to serve patients.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt also directly impacts patient outcomes,\u201d Hays said.<\/p>\n
Davis said Williams would be proud of the conference honoring his legacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe would be proud that his legacy was being a man, but also continued. All of his colleagues are here this morning, all his patients are here this morning. People whose lives he has saved are here honoring him,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n
The MIND Conference<\/a> <\/a>runs through April 24. People struggling with their mental health can call the 988 hotline.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 WCSC. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: This story contains discussion about suicide. If you or someone you know is in crisis, help…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[232813,49,48,84,393,394,194045,232814],"class_list":{"0":"post-619946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-2026-mind-conference","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-mental-health","13":"tag-mentalhealth","14":"tag-musc","15":"tag-neuropsychiatrist"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}